As Nitish walks into Modi's arm, Congress' isolation deepens

New Delhi: Nitish Kumar's latest alliance with Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has further isolated Congress, which in turn means one thing – a steady downfall for the party.

Till late last night, Congress leaders tried to salvage the grand alliance between JD(U) and RJD, hoping against hope to replicate the victory 2019 General Elections.

On Wednesday evening, before submitting his resignation, Nitish neither spoke to Congress president Sonia Gandhi or vice-president Rahul Gandhi. He simply conveyed his decision to party general secretary C P Joshi.

“Mandate was given to Nitish ji for the anti-communal fight but now he has joined hands with them for his personal politics,” Rahul Gandhi told ANI.

Congress leadership claimed that RJD and JD(U) had a pre-election alliance, and failing to honour it means disrespecting people's mandate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP now controls the political discourse in 17 states.

Bihar was Congress' last shot at reclaiming power. Except for Captain Amarinder Singh in Punjab, the 132-year-old grand old party has no strong alliances left in most states.

Congress's alliance with DMK in Tamil Nadu and with the CPM-led Left in West Bengal can do little to help the party come back to centre-stage.

In the upcoming 2017 state elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh too, Congress has no strong opposition.

With the next Lok Sabha polls less than two years away, there's little left to imagine how things will unfold for the grand old party. As things rapidly progress south, it seems like Congress may not even be hold to hold it's position as the second largest party of the country.