Early Diwali at Cong headquarters

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It was an early Diwali at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters here, as fire crackers and 'ladoos' took centre stage at 24 Akbar Road. Congressmen and women had never looked so jubilant in a long, long time.

The "grand sweep" of the 'grand alliance' in Bihar, of which the Congress is a junior partner (contesting on 40 seats), was heralded with unprecedented celebrations at the Congress headquarters.

For Congress cadres starved of poll victories, the Bihar verdict could not have been sweeter. The initial leads in the morning in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had spelt gloom in the Congress but as the leads changed in favour of the grand alliance, so did the spirits at AICC. By noon, Youth Congress workers arrived and there was no stopping the crackers and the endless rounds of halwa, desi ghee ladoos and poori subzi.

As televisions reeled out the numbers of successful Congress candidates; crossing the 20-mark out of 40, even Congressmen themselves were left speechless.

Old timers commented that since the rout in May 2014 followed by the string of electoral losses in state elections, the party workers' morale had taken a beating; Bihar 2015 had brought the Congress back into the reckoning. It was an unusual day on Sunday, when Congress leaders and spokespersons did not duck media questions and instead fielded questions happily.

Senior Congress leader from Bihar and AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed told journalists, "It is a victory of the leadership of Rahul Gandhi who brought two arch enemies - Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar - together. He is the architect of the alliance and also of its victory."

By the time Congress vice-president Gandhi arrived, clad in a loose white shirt and jeans, the crackers' noise had become deafening. Amidst the din, a beaming Gandhi said, "This is a message from the people of Bihar to the BJP and Narendra Modi that you can't divide people and win elections. It's a victory of truth, brotherhood and harmony."