‘Can’t undo what happened but…’: Congress’s Tariq Anwar clarifies Bihar poll loss remark
On Thursday, Anwar in a series of tweets in Hindi had said, “We must accept the truth. Because of the poor performance of the Congress, Bihar has been deprived of a Mahagathbandhan government.”
A day after his tweets admitting to Congress’s poor performance that led to the Grand Alliance’s loss in Bihar assembly elections, senior party leader Tariq Anwar on Friday issued a clarification saying he meant that the party needs to sit and introspect why they lost.
Taking responsibility for the debacle since he “is from Bihar and also AICC general secretary”, Anwar said he didn’t mean to blame the party leadership. “I didn’t say loss in Bihar was due to party leadership, I only said we’ll analyse why we lost. I also take responsibility as I’m from Bihar & am also AICC Gen Secy. We’ll sit & introspect. We can’t undo what happened but will take learning for future polls,” the Congress leader was quoted as saying by new agency ANI.
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On Thursday, Anwar in a series of tweets in Hindi had said, “We must accept the truth. Because of the poor performance of the Congress, Bihar has been deprived of a Mahagathbandhan government. The Congress must introspect as to where it faltered. Also, the entry of AIMIM in Bihar is not a good sign.”
The remarks of Anwar, who was a member of the Congress’s campaign committee, came as the grand old party, which is the second largest constituent of the opposition coalition, contested as many as 70 seats but returned with a tally of just 19.
The Congress leader alleged, “The BJP-led NDA has managed to win the elections yen ken prakaren (adopting all measures, fair and foul) but Bihar has lost. Bihar wanted change. It wanted deliverance from the woes brought about by an incompetent government in the last 15 years.”
Anwar also took a dig at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose Janata Dal (United) has witnessed a sharp decline in its tally compared to what it was five years ago, and now has far fewer seats than the BJP. “Nitish Kumar may get sworn in as the chief minister, for the last time, if the BJP remains benevolent towards him. But bakre ki maan kab tak khair manaayegi (how long can a lamb escape being slaughtered),” the former Union minister tweeted.
The five party opposition alliance of RJD, Congress, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) together won in 110 constituencies,15 seats less than the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Though the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav-led alliance lost the polls, his party that registered victory on 75 assembly constituencies emerged as the single-largest party.
