Stunned by the scale of the NDA’s sweep in Bihar, Congress leaders on Friday admitted the party misread the political landscape and failed to connect with
voters despite early warning signs from the ground. The party, contesting as the second-largest partner in the Mahagathbandhan, was struggling to reach even 4–5 seats by 5 PM, triggering internal churn and sharp assessments of what went wrong.
Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday said stressed that the Congress must closely examine the reasons for its defeat. He said the party has a responsibility to study the setback in detail, noting that the RJD, as the senior partner in the alliance, must also reflect on its performance.
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Tharoor said the mandate required assessing the “totality” of the party’s showing, including the popular mood, organisational strengths and weaknesses, and the effectiveness of its messaging.
According to several Congress leaders three clear reasons contributed to the collapse, explains The Indian Express.
1. Social justice plank backfired
Leaders said the party’s renewed push on social justice politics alienated its remaining upper-caste support while failing to attract the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) it was targeting. Nitish Kumar’s strong hold over EBC voters and his focus on women, including the recent launch of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, left little space for the Congress to expand its reach beyond the Muslim-Yadav base.
2. Tickets for multiple turncoats eroded credibility
The party’s decision to field several former BJP, JD(U), and LJP leaders drew criticism within the ranks. Some leaders said at least 10 candidates had recent NDA associations, with their social media profiles still featuring pictures with NDA leaders. The contradiction, they argued, hurt the Congress’s long-standing stance against the BJP and the RSS, raising questions about credibility among both cadres and voters.
3. Vote theft narrative failed to resonate
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and the “vote theft” campaign, pushed aggressively by the leadership, found little traction on the ground. Internal feedback indicated weak resonance, yet the narrative continued to dominate the party’s messaging. One senior leader said Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on alleged vote theft in Haryana, held on the eve of Bihar polling, was seen as a signal of “lack of confidence."
Leaders also noted that while the Congress was consumed by these themes, RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav maintained a sharper focus on employment and daily economic concerns. The limited coordination between the two parties, and the absence of a unified narrative, added to the drift.
For many in the Congress, the defeat was expected, but the magnitude, they said, was “baffling and unexpected.”
