New Delhi, October 8 . With the announcement of election dates in Haryana, Congress started feeling that the party could return to power here this time and its 10-year political exile could end. But, the internal conflict within the Congress brought the party to a place which the party had not even imagined.
With a historic victory in Haryana, BJP returned to power for the third time. At the same time, the political exile of Congress increased for another 5 years.
In fact, from the announcement of elections to the distribution of tickets in Congress, so much internal conflict came to the fore and along with that the enthusiasm of the Congress workers who were out of power in the state for 10 years was so cold that the party had to face defeat here.
The party was already divided into three camps. Kumari Selja, known as the biggest Dalit face of the party, appeared angry over the party’s ticket distribution. Bhupendra Singh Hooda’s camp dominated the ticket distribution. Many former MLAs and leaders got angry and went to another party and there they also got a place in the election as candidates. On top of this, Kumari Selja also came late to campaign for the party.
Rahul Gandhi’s message of unity to the party workers by making Bhupendra Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja shake hands on the stage also proved futile. At the same time, apart from Bhupendra Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala’s hinting of themselves as CM candidates also became a cause of trouble for the party.
On top of this, Congress geared up late for this election. Along with this, due to what happened within the party regarding Kumari Selja, the OBC and Dalit vote bank shifted from Congress and it went to BJP somewhere. Amidst all this, Congress, which was the architect of the Indy alliance against BJP during the Lok Sabha elections, backed out from taking its allies along in this election due to its over ambition. Congress felt that it would defeat BJP here alone. In such a situation, it decided to contest the elections alone.
At the same time, Aam Aadmi Party was demanding 10 seats from Congress for alliance. But, Congress was not ready to accept this. Along with this, Samajwadi Party also demanded seats from Congress. But, Congress did not break its silence on this too.
Actually, Congress did not do this only in Haryana. Before this, in the assembly elections of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also, SP and AAP kept chasing Congress and till the end it did not get any answer from the party.
Even after SP asked this several times from different platforms in the Haryana assembly elections, Congress did not give any answer. At the same time, when Aam Aadmi Party realized that Congress is not agreeing to the alliance, AAP released the list of its candidates.
Earlier, SP in Madhya Pradesh and AAP in Chhattisgarh were forced to field their candidates due to lack of response from Congress. Wherever Congress saw hope for its party, it ignored the parties of ‘India’ alliance and even after this, defeat in all the three states did not leave Congress.
In such a situation, the effect of the election results from Haryana will be seen in the by-elections of UP as well. Here, Congress and Samajwadi Party, allies of India alliance, are analyzing these results in their own way. Now when Congress did not get anything in Haryana, in such a situation Congress is not in a position to bargain much with SP in UP.
Congress is demanding more seats in UP by-elections by counting the success of Lok Sabha elections. But, SP knows the ground reality and it has not forgotten its neglect in two states. In such a situation, what the parties of India alliance will do with Congress here, only time will tell.
