With the defeat of Congress’ candidate in Jharkhand Rajya Sabha elections on June 18 and following the party’s allegations of cross-voting by alliance parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) a senior Congress party leader from Bihar had, earlier, written a letter to the party leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge urging them to “check regional parties through more assertive politics at making deeper inroads, with or without allies”.

“Regional parties, naturally, do not wish to see Congress prosper at their own expense. This approach of regional parties needs to be checked through more assertive politics aimed at making deeper inroads, with or without allies”, wrote the former All India Congress Committee member and current Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) member Kishore Kumar Jha.

While speaking to The Hindu over phone, Mr. Jha further added that following the Jharkhand Rajya Sabha election defeat of the party candidate “it’s high time that the Congress party top leadership must take notice and action over the letter I had written earlier”.

“I’ve been saying since long that the alliance regional parties have often aligned with the Congress party largely in pursuit of their own interests and parted ways when convenient. This has been evident with parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which have fielded candidates against the Congress in States where they themselves have limited influence”, Mr. Jha further wrote in his letter.

He added in the letter, “as a national party, the Congress must be bold not only in confronting BJP but also in dealing with the opportunistic allies”. Short-term reverses should not compel the party to look for shortcuts. As you must have realized, the party “suffers from systematic deficiencies and is often unable to sustain or build upon the momentum you generate and this has become a recurring patter”, he wrote further. “I therefore request you to look into these matters and take timely remedial measures, even if they require difficult or harsh decisions to strengthen and add greater teeth to the party”, said Mr. Jha

He also warned the top party leadership that “BJP contests elections with a carefully, calibrated strategy to convert even narrow margins into victories and such overlaps hurt the Congress to varying degrees. Regional parties, naturally, do not wish to see the Congress prosper at their own expense”.