Bihar Congress faces massive internal rebellion: 26 of 27 MLAs shun newly appointed working president

The Congress in Bihar is faced with a huge internal rebellion as nearly all of its MLAs skipped the function at which the newly appointed working president in the state assumed charge on Wednesday, according to news reports. As many as 26 out of 27 MLAs gave the event, at which the new president Kaukab Quadri took over the post, a miss at , CNN-News18 reported. [caption id=“attachment_4089967” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Ashok Choudhary. Image courtesy: Twitter/@AshokChoudhary[/caption] The discontent in the Congress ranks can be gauged from the fact that only one MLA — Siddharth — attended the event. On the other hand, at least 15 MLAs and MLCs visited the recently ousted president Ashok Choudhary to express solidarity with him, The Times of India reported. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had earlier expressed unhappiness with Ashok Choudhary, after the central leadership got a hint after a possible split in the party in Bihar. As many as 14 MLAs  have been reported to have made an informal group which is planning to cross over to the JD (U). This is dangerously close to the magic figure of 18 MLAs, the number which would be needed to formalise a split in the party according to the anti-defection law. Choudhary was subsequently removed as working president. On his part, Choudhary has alleged that he was mistreated and removed from his post as he is a Dalit. He said that he had been a ‘committed leader’ of the Congress and resurrected it when it was in bad shape, as reported by CNN-News18. A report in The Telegraph also stated that at least three MLAs had written to the Congress president about Choudhury “fraudulently” taking their signatures on a letter that suggested a split in the legislature party and pledged support to the Nitish Kumar government.