Congress Meeting In Delhi On January 23 To Test Whether The Party Will Split In Bihar
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has summoned all its six MLAs in the state to Delhi on January 23 for a meeting.
By Dev Raj
Published : January 21, 2026 at 7:43 PM IST
Patna: Will it or won't it? The coming Friday will answer the question pertaining to whether the Congress party will split in Bihar and its MLAs will join hands with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has summoned all its six MLAs in the state to Delhi on January 23 for a meeting amid increasing speculations in the political circles about an imminent rupture in the party and the breakaway faction walking to the folds of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) or any other NDA partner.
Senior leaders of the Grand Old Party, including its president Mallikarjun Kharge, will also be present at the meeting, at which a one-to-one meeting with the legislators will be held. Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Rajesh Kumar aka Rajesh Ram, former Assembly legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan and the MPs from the state will also be present on the occasion.
The situation arose due to the MLAs continuously skipping party’s programmes, agitations and functions since getting elected in the Assembly polls in which the Congress registered one of its worst performances in Bihar. The party won Valmiki Nagar, Chanpatia, Forbesganj, Araria, Kishanganj and Manihari seats in the 243-member House, represented by Surendra Prasad, Abhishek Ranjan, Manoj Bishwas, Abidur Rahman, Qamrul Hoda, and Manohar Prasad Singh.
The MLAs did not attend the Makar Sankranti feast hosted by the BPCC president, a meeting called to chalk out the protest strategy against the Centre tinkering with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replacing it with Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, popularly being called 'G Ram G' earlier this month.
They were also missing from the march against the death of a NEET aspirant girl at a private hostel in Patna, and meetings called by the state party in-charge Krishna Allavaru and Rajesh, as well as other occasions.
"This meeting called by our party high command is a test. If the MLAs do not attend it, it will indicate a split is in the offing. If they attend it then it will signal good health and quell the speculations about a forthcoming break," a senior Congress leader told ETV Bharat.
The senior leader said that the behaviour and indiscipline shown by the MLAs betrayed that barring Abidur and Qamrul, rest of them were not bothered about the party and could be on the way out.
The invitees to the Delhi meeting have not been told about its agenda, but sources in the party said that a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader could be elected from among the MLAs who attend it. It will also help check the ideas of a break.
Asked about the talks about an approaching split, BPCC president Rajesh told ETV Bharat: "These are predictions, which is the work of astrologers and pundits. I am a Congress worker, and my duty is to work. I will always keep working for the party. I will speak on the issue only when the prediction of a crack in the party comes true."
Reacting to the MLAs not attending the party functions, Rajesh said: "Those who were absent had given us prior information about it. There are no issues of indiscipline. Nobody is going anywhere. Even I can tell people that BJP and JDU MLAs are in touch with the Congress and want to join it. Such things are meaningless."
Meanwhile, the JDU and BJP are trying their best to attract the Congress MLAs to join them in an attempt to have more say in any future cabinet expansion, elections to the Rajya Sabha and also strengthen themselves vis-a-vis other partners to deal with any political eventualities. The NDA partners have repeatedly asserted over the past two months that the Congress MLAs were in touch with their leaders with a wish to join the parties.
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