Bihar election starting from October 28 is set to enter the first phase of the polls to be held in three-phases. Amidst the political strategies and contesting parties taking each step carefully, Congress has come up with the idea of exposing all the ongoing contradictions within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

After the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) decided to run solo in the elections, breaking off their ties with the Janata Dal (United), the Congress decided to use this window of opportunity left open by the rift.  Although, LJP did not leave the alliance it formed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the assembly polls.

Shakeel Ahmed, Congress leader and former Union Minister said that his party is going to focus on the discords between various parties under the NDA and expose them. He also claims that if BJP comes out as the largest and strongest party in the assembly polls, it might demand to get the Chief Minister’s post, defining it as a “tug-of-war situation’.

According to the seat-sharing strategy, LJP will not be fielding its candidates on the seats which BJP is contesting. The LJP had recently announced its first list of 42 candidates who will be contesting in the first phase of assembly polls in Bihar including Usha Vidyarthi, Rajendra Singh, and Rameshwar Chourasia. Shakeel Ahmed said that Congress will focus upon such contradictions to persuade the JD(U) supporters in their favor and similarly for the confused BJP supporters.

Bhupendra Yadav, the BJP in-charge had, however, dismissed the news of any such disputes taking place within the NDA. He said, “The BJP has only one plan and that is to fight the elections along with the JD (U). We have clearly spelled out that plan. The LJP is not a part of this arrangement because it chose to fight alone. The NDA is fighting for development in Bihar under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and vision. Nitish Kumar is the undisputed chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.”

Congress is yet to disclose the names of its participating candidates in the first phase of elections. But, it had disclosed the names of 21 candidates taking part in the second and third phases of the assembly polls. On Thursday, it shall be announcing the names of 49 remaining candidates to intensify its election campaign headed by Sonia Gandhi, the party chief for Congress.

There have been speculations regarding injustice in the ticket distribution pattern in Congress in the context of the Bihar elections. The party was held responsible for distributing the tickets to some incompetent leaders in the first list they released specifying the candidates. In response to this situation, Rahul Gandhi had to form 6 panels to supervise the preparations done by the party for the upcoming Bihar elections.

Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary shall be participating in some of the rallies in Bihar along with the former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The results of the Bihar election shall be announced on November 10.

The author is a student member of the Amity Centre of Happiness.