A day after his maiden visit to Patna as the new Congress in-charge of Bihar offered him glimpses of the still smouldering factionalism in the party’s state unit, Mr Mukul Wasnik on Friday stressed the importance of restoring unity and cohesion and pledged to steer the party to victory in Bihar’s forthcoming Assembly polls. Even though
saddled with a party unit that still remains divided, Mr Wasnik oozed remarkable confidence about tapping the huge potentials the Congress has in Bihar, especially after a widely popular tour undertaken by Mr Rahul Gandhi in February and months of strategic hard work put in by former Bihar Congress chief Anil Kumar Sharma both before and after Mr Gandhi’s tour.
“We are looking at all the sides of every opportunity and crisis we have here. We have enormous strength as a political party in Bihar,” said Mr Wasnik, an AICC general secretary and Union minister for social justice and empowerment, at a news conference. He was accompanied by the new Bihar Congress president, Mr Mehboob Ali Kaiser. Mr Wasnik and Mr Kaiser were both given their new charges after the Congress central leadership relieved Mr Jagdish Tytler and Mr Anil Sharma, their predecessors respectively, on June 2.
Mr Kaiser said the Congress would soon issue a “chargesheet” against the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar so that the state’s people got to know how “the tall claims being made about improvements in law and order situation are hollow”. Mr Wasnik, a dalit himself, said the past four-and-half years of Mr Nitish Kumar’s rule has seen a rise in atrocities on dalits in Bihar. A function at Sadakat Ashram, the Bihar Congress headquarters in Patna, organised to welcome Mr Wasnik and Mr Kaiser on Thursday had turned into a vocal battleground among senior leaders, including two former state unit chiefs — Ramjatan Sinha and Anil Kumar Sharma. Mr Sinha vehemently opposed Mr Sharma’s gently expressed claim that the Congress’ vote percentage in Bihar rose from four per cent to 15 per cent with his efforts and during his tenure.