Analysis | With Sunday rout, Congress loses bargaining power in INDIA

With the Congress suffering an electoral rout in the Hindi heartland, the grand old party has failed not only in three states but also in its early strategy for the Lok Sabha polls due next year. The Congress’s decision to go all alone in the state polls and improve its bargaining power in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has failed big time with the party being decimated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.  

When Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in his first reaction after the rout, said the party will prepare fully for the coming Lok Sabha elections along with the INDIA parties, a sense of guilt was evident in the veteran’s statement. 

The fact that the overconfident Kamal Nath-led Congress refused to forge an alliance with INDIA partner Samajwadi Party (SP) in Madhya Pradesh for the assembly polls leaves it answerable to its coalition partners when they meet next.  

Reports suggest that the Congress and SP fighting it out in 66 seats cost both of them dearly, at least in the seats bordering Uttar Pradesh.  

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has already called for the Congress to rethink its strategy, citing the Madhya Pradesh debacle. 

“It is my clear opinion that the Madhya Pradesh elections should have been contested as INDIA alliance. Had some seats been shared with the alliance parties, such as Akhilesh's party, (Samajwadi Party), the Congress would have fared far better. His (Akhilesh's) party has good support in some areas, including some 10-12 seats known as the strongholds of the party. It was Kamal Nath who opposed sharing of seats with him (Akhilesh),” he told reporters. 

Whether the poll results would have been any different or not, had the Congress accommodated the SP in its poll plan in MP, it would have at least had a partner to share the grief now. Even if they lost together, there would have been a sense of collective responsibility within the INDIA bloc. 

Now with the principal opposition party being restricted to just three states on its own – Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh – against 12 held by the BJP, the Congress remains just another partner in the grand alliance. It will have to work overtime to get its maths convincing when it’s time for the seat-sharing talks for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.