Making all-out efforts to gain a foothold in Bihar, the Congress has chalked out a roadmap forthe bypolls to 18 Assembly seats in the state. Congress in-charge for Bihar Jagdish Tytler said on Sunday that he, along with other senior party leaders, will tour Bihar and seek the people?s support for strengthening the organisation and regaining its moorings under the ?gaon ki ore chalo? programme. The bypolls are scheduled for September 10 and September 15.

However, many in the party rue the fact that the Congress seems to be banking more on defectors than its own workers for the upcoming bypolls. Most of the dissenting leaders, however, do not want to come on record. ?We just want to send across a message to the central leadership that Tytler is not attempting to capture the mood of the party workers and ignoring them on the lines of his mentor, BPCC chief Anil Sharma,? said one such leader.

A group of leaders is likely to take up the matter with AICC president Sonia Gandhi after the bypolls.

The party has chosen at least 10 persons who have recently come from the RJD, LJP or JD-U as its nominees. They include Noor Alam from Aurai, Mohammed Hannan from Araria, Girija Singh from Ghoshi, Umesh Yadav from Triveniganj and Feku Ram from Bochaha ? all former RJD leaders. The party has given a ticket to former LJP leader Parsuram Tiwari from Ramgarh and former BSP leader Naresh Ram from Bagha. Pappu Yadav and Sadhu Yadav had got their men tickets from Trivenganj and Nautan (Shiv Ratan Yadav), respectively.

On the other hand, party veterans in the state like former BPCC president Ramjatan Sinha and the party?s leader in the state Legislative Council Mahachandra Prasad Singh are only seen accompanying the party?s central leaders during campaigning. Sinha, for instance, accompanied Jitin Prasada to Samastipur. A party leader said that Sinha did not even get a chance to address the crowd.

BPCC chief Anil Sharma, however, said that candidates have been selected on the basis of winnability. Tytler, while campaigning in Muzaffarpur, did not take any specific queries, but said: ?We have started from zero in Bihar. We will face several challenges and hope we are up to it.? The bypolls would be his first test, he added.

Criticising the Nitish Kumar government, he alleged that it?s a ?total failure on all fronts?. ?Whatever development has taken place in the state is only because of the funds provided by the Congress-led government at the Centre,? he claimed, adding the government had failed to properly utilise funds allocated under NREGA. He also accused the ?Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad-Ram Vilas Paswan trio? of indulging in caste-politics.