Show-cause notice issued to 29 disgruntled Bihar Congress leaders

PATNA: The Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) on Thursday issued show-cause notices to 29 disgruntled leaders, including former MLAs and former district presidents, for staging a protest outside the party headquarters in New Delhi on September 8, demanding the removal of AICC in-charge for Bihar Krishna Allavaru and state president Rajesh Kumar.

The show-cause notices, issued by the party's disciplinary committee chairman Kapildeo Prasad Yadav, asked the leaders to reply within 72 hours.

“If reply of any of these leaders is found to be unsatisfactory or somebody delays it deliberately, committee will take action as per rule,” the notice stated.

The leaders include former MLAs Anil Singh, Poonam Devi and Chhatrapati Yadav, and former district presidents Bharat Bhushan Dubey, Vidhushekhar Pandey, Satyendra Yadav and Mritunjay Singh. They were part of a 40-member group that staged a protest outside the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhawan, at 9A, Kotla Marg, in New Delhi.

The protest was led by former state unit spokesperson Anand Madhav. Many of the protesting leaders and workers had previously been expelled or suspended from the party following its poor performance in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.

The party won only six seats in the 2025 polls, against 19 in the 2020 Assembly elections.

The protest was called off following assurances that their memorandum would be communicated to the senior leadership. However, the state party's disciplinary committee subsequently issued show-cause notices to 29 participating leaders, seeking written explanations within 72 hours for alleged gross indiscipline.

The disgruntled leaders had earlier sought the intervention of the party high command and other senior leaders at the Centre, holding Allavaru and Kumar responsible for the party's poor performance in the 2025 Assembly elections.

“The party had to suffer a loss of 13 seats compared to the 2020 assembly election,” they said.

They also demanded the withdrawal of show-cause notices issued to 43 party leaders by the state disciplinary committee.

The Congress' top leadership has not yet acted on the disgruntled leaders' demands, with Bihar not being an immediate electoral priority as no Assembly election is due in the state in the near future.

Several states are currently posing challenges for the Congress' central leadership, making resolution of internal issues crucial for the party.