India
Congress’s ‘alliance of convenience’ comes under fire as Haryana loss wipes out Lok Sabha gain | India News – Times of India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unleashed a scathing attack on the Congress, calling it an ‘irresponsible party’ and a ‘factory to spread hatred’. He also accused the Congress of dividing Hindu society for its political gains and scaring Muslims into becoming the party’s vote bank. But it is not Prime Minister Modi’s sharp attacks that can confuse the Congress. The party is said to be more concerned about the impact of this result on its role as the fulcrum of the INDIA bloc.
Unfortunately for the Congress, the Haryana elections have reinforced two perceptions that go against the party in the INDIA bloc. First, the Congress cannot defeat the BJP alone in direct contests; and second, Congress makes no effort to rally its allies in states where it has a strong presence or where it is confident of winning alone.
‘Overconfident and arrogant’
In Haryana, Congress and MONKEY held discussions on seat sharing after Rahul Gandhi urged the state unit to explore options to contest the elections under the banner of INDIA. However, talks failed to materialize and the two sides fought as rivals in the state.
The AAP, which failed to open its account in the state, has claimed that the results would have been different if the two parties had contested together. However, the results show that the AAP alliance could have given Congress only four additional seats: Assandh, Dabwali, Uchhana Kalan and Rania. In all these four seats, the AAP candidates’ vote share was more than the Congress’s margin of defeat. Two of these seats were won by the BJP and the other two by the INLD.
AAP calls the Congress “overconfident and arrogant” and has announced that it will contest solo in the parliamentary elections in Delhi next year. “In Delhi, AAP will fight alone. We are able to fight the overconfident Congress and the arrogant BJP alone,” party spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said.
On Tuesday, AAP president Arvind Kejriwal said the biggest lesson from the recent election cycle was not to be ‘overconfident’.
‘SP ignores Congress’
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party went a step further and unilaterally announced six of the ten candidates for the assembly elections in the state. This was despite the fact that the two parties had contested the parliamentary elections jointly under the banner of INDIA.
The Samajwadi Party has also had a bitter alliance experience with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh when it was openly rebuffed over seat-sharing during the Assembly elections. Kamal Nath, who led the Congress campaign in the state, refused to recognize Akhilesh Yadav’s party as an alliance partner.
‘Congress ignores regional parties as…’
‘The Shiv Sena (UBT) also turned its guns on the Congress, accusing it of ignoring other parties, resulting in the Haryana polls debacle. Party leader Sanjay Raut said Congress’s “over-reliance” was responsible for its defeat in Haryana, alleging that it relies on allies only in regions where they are weak but ignores them in strongholds.
“Wherever the Congress is weak, it needs the help of the regional parties. But where it thinks it is strong, the Congress does not give importance to the regional parties,” Raut said.
“We could win in Jammu and Kashmir because the INDIA bloc fought there under the leadership of Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah. In Haryana, the INDIA bloc did not fight together because the Congress thought they could win on their own. Hooda ji is our friend, he thought he could win alone,” he said.
Another Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the Congress should look at its loss as it is in direct conflict with the BJP. “Congress must introspect. There was a direct battle with the BJP. Where have they all fallen short? I am sure they will analyze that,” she said.
‘This attitude leads to electoral losses’
Taking a shot at the Congress without naming the party, TMC MP Saket Gokhale slammed the attitude of not accommodating regional parties in places where they thought they were winning, leading to electoral losses.
“This attitude will lead to electoral losses – if we feel we are winning, we will not accommodate any regional party… But in states where we are in trouble, regional parties should accommodate us,” the TMC MP said in a post. on X.
“Arrogance, being right and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster,” he said.
Even National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah had some advice for his ally. “The Congress will have to dig deep into it and find the reasons for the defeat,” Abdullah said.
It is clear that the Haryana debacle will reduce Congress’s bargaining power within the INDIA bloc. Elections are scheduled in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi. In all these states, the party is an alliance partner with other INDIA block parties.
