October 23, 2025 : The absence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s photo from a Mahagathbandhan poster in Bihar gave the BJP an opportunity to take a swipe at the alliance. While Rahul was missing, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s image dominated the poster.
Sharing an image of the poster, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla wondered if it was an attempt to show Rahul Gandhi his “place”. “Joint PC? But only one picture. Rahul Gandhi & Congress ka “samman chori”. Showed Congress & Rahul his place?” Poonawalla wrote, jabbing Congress and the Opposition alliance.
‘Samman chori’ (theft of respect) was seemingly a jibe at Congress’ ‘vote chori’ allegations against the Election Commission of India and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Hours later, Poonawalla shared another post alleging that Congress is facing ‘ticket chori’ (ticket theft’) allegations as well. Poonawalla’s posts seemingly question whether all is well or not in the Grand Alliance in Bihar, which has Congress and RJD as major partners along with other parties.
“So it’s not just “Samman” Respect chori that Congress is grappling with (Tejaswi pic on joint pc poster and rahul gandhi deleted). Now Ticket chori allegations hit Congress especially key team of Rahul Gandhi. Earlier congress mla Afaq Alam said how tickets were sold for cash. In RJD too , sitting MLA made same charge,” the BJP spokesperson wrote in the post.
So far, Congress and the RJD have not been able to come up with a concrete seat-sharing plan to contest the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, unlike the National Democratic Alliance. The last date to file nominations for the second phase of assembly elections in Bihar has passed.
Due to no final seat-sharing formula, some assembly constituencies in Bihar may witness “friendly fights” among the Mahagathbandhan allies, that consist of Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and the CPI (Marxist) or CPI(M), and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
Congress’ ‘relevant issue’ retort
Amid claims of rift within the opposition alliance, Congress leader Pawan Khera said on Thursday that there are no clashes within the Grand Alliance.
“Let the opposition say whatever they want to say, but there was never a clash between us (Mahagathbandhan)…Is this (Tejashwi Yadav’s photo in the poster) a relevant issue? Does this issue make any sense to the youth of Bihar?” he said, reported news agency ANI.
While speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Bihar on October 24, Khera said, “He can come, how does that make a difference? Bihar will treat some people as guests, and it will expect other people to form its government.”
Summary :
Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the Mahagathbandhan poster drew sharp BJP criticism, with leaders mocking Congress and questioning whether the alliance had sidelined its key leader.