The Congress, which is hoping to stage a political comeback in Kerala, is trying to brush away the Bihar election blues and get back on its feet as the crucial civic polls are fast approaching.
Though the poll outcome of Bihar may not have any direct bearing on the Congress and its allies in the State, the electoral debacle has left a dampening effect on the enthusiasm of the party workers.
The party’s State leadership prefers to quickly forget the humiliating defeat of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and focus on the electioneering.
The results, which came in at a time when the Congress and its allies were preparing themselves for the civic polls, which are dubbed as the semifinal to the 2026 Assembly polls, were disheartening for the party rank and file, admit senior functionaries of the party.
“It’s quite natural for the party workers to feel dejected following the failure of the party in one of the crucial elections. However, the despair will quickly fade away and the party will emerge battle-ready to take on its political opponents,” hoped a former KPCC president.
Leadership failings
However, a senior Member of Parliament from the State, who preferred not to be quoted, blamed the party leadership both at the State and the Centre for failing to build the organisation at the grassroots level even after a series of setbacks.
“After every electoral debacle, the party would come out with a statement that it will carry out an introspection and make course corrections, which never happen. It’s not the jumbo committees of KPCC general secretaries and secretaries but invigorating the organisation at lower levels that would eventually benefit the organisation,” he suggested.
The latest defeat has raised serious concerns about the political future of the organisation in the minds of the ordinary workers.
Tussle for CM’s post
At the same time, there are at least three Chief Ministerial post aspirants active in the party, who are solely focussed on appointing and accommodating their supporters in key organisational posts rather than activating the organisation to face the political challenges. The party needs to come up with campaigns that would have a direct bearing on the lives of people to survive and get back to power, he suggested.
Had the grand alliance succeeded in defeating the NDA in Bihar, it would have certainly raised the stakes of the party nationally and left an electrifying effect on the organisation in the States, conceded a senior party leader.
The Opposition parties, including the CPI(M) and the BJP, lost no time in taking advantage of the situation and writing off the party as a spent force.
As the news of the resounding victory of the alliance trickled in, enthusiastic BJP workers also took out victory rallies across the State.
A Polit Bureau member of CPI (M), which was also part of the Mahagathbandhan, noted that the Vote Chori campaign led by Rahul Gandhi failed to garner enough electoral support, though it had created the impression that it would leave an impact on the poll scene.
The Bihar debacle has done enough damage to the Congress at the national level, he said.
Rethinking strategy
The Bihar results should help the Congress, suggests CPI State secretary Binoy Viswom, to rethink its political strategy of identifying the Left parties as its bete noire and aligning with communal organisations of all hues to defeat the Left parties.
However, Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan said the Bihar outcome has alerted the party to be vigilant on the possible manipulations of the electoral process.
There is a general feeling in the party that the Bihar results were manipulated and elections were not held in a free and fair manner in the State. A meeting of the Congress leaders held on Monday decided to stay vigilant to prevent any such possible manipulations in Kerala, Mr. Satheesan said.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP State president, feels that the Bihar results will have implications in Kerala too, which, according to him, has followed the Bihar model of politics that caused much harm to Keralites and culminated in lost opportunities for its people.
The Congress in Kerala is dependent on anti-democratic radical organisations for survival. After Bihar, Kerala too will signal the end of the Congress brand of politics. People of Kerala expect politics to be a contest of development ideas and performance, rather than the one practised by the Congress for the past 60 years, he said.
Published – November 18, 2025 09:36 am IST
