PURNEA, Dec. 31 -- Veteran Congress leader and former MLA from Kadwa in Katihar district, Shakeel Ahmad Khan's assessment that the Congress should pursue independent politics in Bihar-alleging that its alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) failed to yield electoral gains-has not gone down well with its alliance partner. Khan said the Congress was unable to either improve its tally in the Bihar Assembly or expand its organisational base due to the alliance with the RJD. "With the RJD, the Congress party could neither increase its seat count nor broaden its base in Bihar. The party's top leadership must introspect on the alliance," he said, adding that the tie-up had caused confusion among grassroots-level party workers. He reiterated that the alliance proved detrimental to the Congress in the state. A two-time MLA from Kadwa assembly constituency in Seemanchal's Katihar district, Khan lost the seat in the recent election to JD(U)'s Dulal Chandra Goswami. He alleged that the RJD curtailed the Congress' role in Bihar, both in seat-sharing arrangements and in formulating electoral strategy during the Assembly polls. The Congress contested 61 seats in the last Bihar Assembly election but won only six. Of these, four seats were from Seemanchal, considered a stronghold of the party. The Congress currently has two MPs and four MLAs from Seemanchal, while the RJD managed to win just one Assembly seat in the region and has no MP. Party insiders said that during a review meeting held in Delhi after the grand alliance's humiliating defeat in Bihar, Congress leaders, almost unanimously, opposed continuing the alliance with the RJD. "The Congress could have won more seats had it contested independently, as the perception of the RJD in Bihar has increasingly become that of a party representing only certain communities," a party insider said. Congress leaders also claimed that the party lost two crucial seats-Kadwa and Kasba-in Seemanchal due to the exclusion of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) from the alliance. "We lost Kadwa and Kasba because of AIMIM. Had AIMIM been part of the alliance, our prospects would have been much better in Seemanchal in particular and Bihar in general," a senior Congress leader told Hindustan Times. According to party insiders, the Congress was in favour of including AIMIM in the alliance, but resistance from RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav proved to be a "spoilsport" in the poll outcome. "The party should immediately part ways with the RJD," they said. In Seemanchal, the RJD repeated its poor performance of the 2020 elections, winning only the Raniganj seat in Araria district. The Congress retained its seats in Kishanganj, Araria and Manihari, and won the Forbesganj seat by a narrow margin of 221 votes, while losing Kadwa and Kasba. A section of Congress leaders also believes that independent candidate Pappu Yadav adversely affected the party's prospects in Bihar. Reacting sharply to the remarks, the RJD said it was the Congress that had approached it for the alliance. "Every party is free to take its own decision. If the Congress feels it should go alone in Bihar, it is free to chart its own course," RJD leader Arun Kumar said....