Bhubaneswar: Even as the partners in the INDIA alliance spit fire against the Congress blaming it for its debacle in Haryana due to complacency, the grand old party appears to have been brought to its knees. The Congress has formed a committee to look into the causes of its debacle in the just concluded election. But strangely, it kept two prominent leaders of two factions in the party in the State—Randeep Surjewala and Kumari Selja—out of the review at the meeting held at the residence of AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge.
The committee will also look into the issue of alliance with any party during future elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has criticized the Congress for not taking it along during the poll despite being in the INDIA block.
According to analysts, the exercise appears to be a no-show as the two leaders are vital during any review of the outcome.
These analysts say that Rahul Gandhi has not taken the defeat serious even now and wants to shift the blame on others in the party.
They further said that RaGa and some of his close associates in the party have been taking the credit for parties success in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But they are not ready to accept the blame for party’s loss in Haryana or Jammu & Kashmir.
The Congress also received a severe drubbing in J&K which went to polls along with Haryana bagging only six of the 32 seats it had contested in alliance with the National Conference.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has been caustic for the casual attitude of the Gandhi scion during campaigning in Jammu region—predominantly Hindu dominated. In contrast the BJP bagged 29 of the 45 seats it contested.
In Haryana, the Congress was divided in three distinct factions– Bhupinder Hooda, Randeep Surjewala and Kumar Selja—before the election. Selja is considered a strong leader with the backing of dalits in the State and was a contender for the Chief Minister’s post too. But the rift between Hooda and Selja has come to the fore with the election results.
During the poll in the State, the electorate has virtually rejected the ‘Jawan (Agneevir), Kissan and Pehlwan’ slogan of the Congress. According to political analysts the attempts of the Congress party to separate the Hindu votes has also failed and the ‘Batoge to Katoge’ slogan of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appears to have had a great impact of consolidation of Hindu votes in the State.
The Congress is now apprehensive, the analysts feel, that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Shiv Sena (UBT) will now be in a position to bargain with the Congress in Jharkand and Maharashtra during Assembly polls in their states due in the next few months.
Akhilesh Yadav has also taken a unilateral decision to field seven candidates of his party during the by-election in the state anytime now. The Congress was mulling a fifty-fifty formula in Uttar Pradesh. But it now seems a distant possibility.
