After its success in the three Assembly elections last year, the Congress once again performed miserably against the BJP at the national level. Party president Rahul Gandhi faced the mortification of a humiliating defeat at the hands of Smriti Irani in the family bastion of Amethi.
The party scored a duck in 18 States and saw nine of its former Chief Ministers biting the dust. For the second time, the grand old party did not get enough number to bag Leader of Opposition post in the Lok Sabha.
While Rahul lost from Amethi, there were no takers for sister Priyanka Gandhi in UP. The party lost all the seats where Priyanka campaigned or conducted roadshows.
The only face saver for Congress was Kerala (15) and Punjab (8) which helped the party reach a tally 51 (till 8pm) seats which is merely seven more from the tally of 2014 general elections.
The States where the Congress could not even open its account include Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Apart from these, the Congress also has no presence in Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.
The UPA which has Congress as its main constituents could not even touch three digit figure with its major alliance partners like NCP, JD(S) and others showing a dismal performance.
Senior Congress leaders who lost included Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge from Kalaburgi in Karnataka, former Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit from North East Delhi, former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal, former Maharashtra Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan from Nanded.
The list also includes Sushil Kumar Shinde from Solapur, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat from Nainital, former Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma from Tura, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda from Sonepat and Verrappa Moily from Chikkballur in Karnataka.
The Congress poor show has once again exposed the structural weaknesses in the party organisation on the ground. The real cause of concern for the Congress is the reverses in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh where it had defeated the BJP in the Assembly elections just six months ago.
Even Karnataka, where the Congress is in alliance with the JD(S), has been a big disappointment. Congress failed to convince the voters about its promise of Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) through which the party promised a minimum income guarantee scheme of Rs 72,000 a year to the country’s 20 per cent or five crore poorest of the poor families.
Similarly, Rahul’s campaign focussing on alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal and his “Chowkidar chor hai” slogan directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to impress upon the voters mind as compared to BJP’s campaign narrative of nationalism, national security and decisive action against terrorism.
At a Press Conference, Rahul said he did not want to discuss the possible reasons of the defeat because “the people of India have already decided”.
“I frankly do not want to get into what might have gone wrong. The people of India have already decided and that’s it. I want to congratulate Modiji and the BJP,” said Rahul.
The future course of action and introspection will be done at the Congress Working Committee meeting sooner, he said.
“To the sympathisers of Congress I just want to say ‘don’t lose heart and hope’. This is a fight of differing ideologies and we will continue the fight.”
Party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi too said the party fully respects the decision of the people and congratulated Modi and the BJP for their victory in Lok Sabha polls.
Rahul’s announcement to contest from Kerala’s Wayanad district in addition to his Amethi stronghold had surprised many and raised important questions about the strategy.
The results is significant for Rahul as the 2019 poll is the first general election the party is contesting under his leadership .
The grand old party’s idea of coalitions seemed to have not worked in State like Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra amongst others.
