‘Congress Not Senior Partner’: Shashi Tharoor Says RJD Has To Look Carefully At Bihar Performance
Last Updated:November 14, 2025, 15:54 IST
Shashi Tharoor said Congress has a responsibility to study in detail the causes as Bihar appears to hand NDA another mandate. He revealed he was not invited to the campaign.
Shashi Tharoor said he was not asked to join the Bihar poll effort but highlighted that Congress would review its performance in the elections. (IMAGE: PTI)
Kerala Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said Congress has a responsibility to study in detail the causes and review its performance. Tharoor also pointed out that his party was not the senior party in the alliance and asked the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to “carefully look” at its performance.
The BJP-led NDA has impressive leads in more than 200 of the state’s 243 assembly seats, with trends indicating that the party was on track to post its biggest tally with an excellent strike rate. NDA crossed the 200 mark in Bihar with the BJP leading in 95 seats, JDU in 84, and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) on 20 seats.
“I am sure that the party has a responsibility to study in detail the causes. But remember, we were not the senior partner in the alliance and that RJD also must look carefully at its own performance,” Tharoor told reporters on Friday.
He also revealed that he was not invited on the Congress’s election campaign trail.
“I was not there and I was not invited to campaign in Bihar, so I can’t say much from personal experience. Those who were there will certainly study the outcome,” he added.
“There is, of course, the popular mood. There are questions about the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses. There is a question of messaging. These are issues that will have to be looked at,” he said.
The Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said women voters “were certainly given some incentives just before the Code of Conduct”.
“Whether we like it or not, unfortunately, that is legal under our laws…I am afraid this is not the first time that we have seen state governments doing such things, of giving benefits to certain segments of society,” he said, adding that he does not think “it is a healthy practice”.
“We saw something quite similar in Maharashtra as well as other seats in the past. Anyway, it’s a question of leading at the moment. They are leading by a rather large margin. But let’s wait for the Election Commission to discuss and disclose the results,” he further added.
(with inputs from ANI and PTI)
Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a Chief Sub-Editor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over seven years of experience during which he has covered se…Read More
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a Chief Sub-Editor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over seven years of experience during which he has covered se… Read More
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Thiruvananthapuram, India, India
First Published:
November 14, 2025, 15:42 IST
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