Amid rumours of split in Bihar Congress, Rahul Gandhi summons MLAs, MLCs to Delhi for meetings

Amid speculation of a split in Bihar Congress, Rahul Gandhi summoned all Member of Legislative Assembly and Member of Legislative Council to Delhi on Wednesday for one-on-one chats. [caption id=“attachment_3950171” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Rahul Gandhi. Reuters[/caption] Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad arrived in Bihar on Tuesday, which underscored the seriousness of the matter. Party sources said that the state unit, led by former education minister Ashok Chaudhary, who is considered close to Nitish Kumar, finds himself unsure as to how to proceed after Nitish broke off the Grand Alliance. Many Congress leaders are opposing  continuing the alliance with the RJD. Out of 27 Congress MLAs, 14 have reportedly signed a letter to break away and form a new group. But support would be required from at least 18 MLAs to meet conditions laid down in the anti-defection law. A few days ago, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, hoping to avoid a Gujarat-like scenario, met top leaders Ashok Chaudhary and Sadanand Singh. After the meeting, Chaudhary insisted that rumours of a split, being spread by a few party leaders, were untrue. But sources said that a few Muslim MLAs, after their return from Bihar, contacted JD(U) leaders. This prompted RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to allege that Nitish was engineering a split in the Congress, a charge Nitish vehemently contested. However, on Monday, Nitish indicated that all was not well within the Congress. “Lalu ji wants to keep some of the Congress MLAs in his pocket,” Nitish said.