Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge (C) with party leader and LoP in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi (L) and Congress leader K.C. Venugopal during the party’s Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, in Patna, on September 24, 2025. Photo: Special Arrangement
The BJP has “mentally retired” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and now regards him a “liability”, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday, in his opening remarks at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held at Sadaqat Ashram, the party’s state headquarters in Patna.Mr. Kharge said that the upcoming Bihar polls hold significance not only for the State but for the entire country, as they will mark the countdown to the end of the “corrupt” Narendra Modi government at the Centre.Lashing out at the State government, the Congress chief said the Bihar government was on a “long vacation”.Accompanied by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C Venugopal and other top leaders, Mr. Kharge noted the country was facing serious challenges on both domestic and international fronts due to the “failure” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the domestic front as well as in foreign affairs.Without naming U.S. President Donald Trump, Mr. Kharge mocked Mr. Modi’s relationship with him, saying the leader that the Prime Minister once hailed as his “close friend” had created multiple problems for India.Turning to domestic issues, the Congress president criticised the proposed nationwide roll-out of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling it an attempt to disenfranchise Dalits, Adivasis, Backward and Extremely Backward Classes, minorities, and the poor. He stressed that Mr. Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ had raised awareness in Bihar against “vote theft”.Watch: Rahul Gandhi accuses EC of vote chori: Explained
