The results of the recent round of assembly polls have been a downer for the Opposition with the Congress failing to make a dent in any of the states where it had a straight fight against the BJP. This has got the INDIA block worried (and rightly so) as to whether the
Congress should take the lead in fighting the Modi Government at the national level. Prior to the results, when it looked as if the Congress would win at least two of the three Hindi heartland states, there was a view that as the only pan India party in the opposition, the Congress should take the lead in bringing everyone together. There was even some speculation that Mallikarjun Kharge could be the convenor and play a Harkishen Singh Surjeet sort of role.
Of course that was then. Defeat has no friends, and as expected, the allies are now rethinking their allegiance to the Congress. What has also irked some is the high handedness of the Congress when dealing with the regional parties, such as the party’s refusal to tie with the Samajwadi Party in Madhya Pradesh.
While the decision was Kamal Nath’s, the burden rests with the Congress. If Kharge or Rahul Gandhi had insisted, then Kamal Nath would have had to give in and cede to the party’s wishes.
As Omar Abdullah pointed out, “Either the Congress has not been able to understand the ground situation in Madhya Pradesh. What harm could have happened if they had given 5-7 seats to Akhilesh Yadav? What storm could have blown? What have they won now?
The results are in front of everyone now.” For his part, Akhilesh Yadav had already stated (before the results) that the Congress should not expect much from the SP when it came to seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls. Omar has also told the media that the NC would be going it alone in the Lok Sabha and not tying up with the Congress.
Mamata Bannerjee too has not been happy with the way the Congress has played her against the Left and was not going to cede any seats in West Bengal either. Seat sharing was already a difficult path for the INDIA block partners and the Congress attitude has only made it worse.
When asked to comment on the results, West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee blamed the Congress for not taking its allies along and was of the view that had the elections been fought as an alliance, the BJP could have been defeated. «The BJP has not come on the basis of the people’s verdict. It was the fault of Congress.
The Congress received 39 per cent of the vote, the BJP received 42 per cent, and the India Alliance received 12 per cent,” she said. And added very tellingly, “Had the seat sharing been done, the BJP would have been defeated,”
Therefore its not so much the electoral defeat but the attitude of the COngress that is going to hurt the party more when it comes to winning allies. Take for example what happened in Telangana where the CPM had asked for an alliance but the Congress had refused.
Speaking at an event to celebrate 50 years of Kharge’s political journey, the CMP leader Sitaram Yechury had revealed that the CMP had reached out for seat sharing but Kharge was honest enough to tell us that this would cause problems and explained why he was refusing.
Yechury added that “Credibility and honesty are important for any leader” and praised Kharge for being honest about his reasons for refusal. Hence even when there was no alliance there was also no ill feeling.
This was not the case in Madhya Pradesh. Hence apart from introspecting within, the Congress would also have to mend fences with allies outside the party and tone down its big brother behaviour, if it wants to fight the BJP on a united INDIA platform, in the coming Lok Sabha polls.