By D N Singh
For any analyst it is not hard to guess that, a series of spiraling acrimony within the Congress has brought the party to this state. As is evident from the outcome of assembly election in five states in very recent times.
One could not have expected worse a situation than this and as thing are, it has gone further worse and the grand old party appear to have been accustomed to such sweeping defeats.
Recalling the much hyped campaigning in the Uttar Pradesh by Priyanka Gandhi, Congress’s General Secretary, and coming to their kitty just two seats and, a near eviction from power in Punjab, was a signal at its being at the nadir.
At one time there was a ray of hope for the Congress that, the anti-incumbency factor would lend a respite to the latter, the assumption has miserably failed. It happened nowhere.
More pathetic is that, in ten people one is represented by a Congress member of parliament in the country, indicate an analysis by few poll watchers.
What Went Wrong
It is believed that we are in a social democracy and there is problem that this process encounters almost world over but what has come out after the recent assembly polls, is undeniably so insightful for India.
Priyanka remained the front-liner in UP and she went with catchy slogans, almost single-handedly led the battle with the aura of her grandma Indira Gandhi.
No other leader of national stature, except the Gandhis, was active in UP or elsewhere. Some in the camps of the disgruntled ones look at it as a eroding writ on the health of the beleaguered Congress.
This virtual debacle has already ignited a sense of power-struggle between the old guards and the family and that cannot be more evident than what happened after the CWC meeting on Tuesday, when Sonia Gandhi virtually reclaimed the party president post against a headwind within, for an organizational election in the party.
Operation After Patient Is Dead
One of the G23 members and the most vocal among them, Kapil Sibbal, in an interview with the The Indian Express, minced no words about the leadership by the Gandhis and hinted at a ‘voluntary’ exit of the Gandhis from the helm.
Rahul Gandhi, who has been viewed always as a reluctant politician, has been working shoulder to shoulder with his sister Priyanka, but the results show that, the Congress could not keep itself free from the dust of reprisals of the voters.
Plan is afoot that, the party high command may fix the responsibilities on the State unit presidents for the debacles. That was what was rumoured to be an inside feeling.
Which manifest a step like going for an operation after the patient is dead.
In Uttar Pradesh, which was the touch stone for all, the Congress relegated itself to a dismal level just winning two Assembly seats taking its vote percentage down to an embarrassing 2.33% whereas the BJP beeped a high of 41.29%.
And in its once a bastion under Capt Amrinder Singh, the party slipped down to 18 seats only whereas Aap ruled with 92 out of total 117 seats.
Hopelessly Ill Odisha Congress
Back home in Odisha, where the state unit has never become able to get out the metastasis of defeats from 2000, down the years it has been continuing to spread the feeling that, it is still hopelessly ill.
Although the PCC president Niranjan Patnaik has so far remained an accomplished survivor as its head amid all odds, almost for two fractured terms, but he has never been able to deliver on the ground since then.
In the recently concluded Panchayat polls, remaining at the bottom, the party vote percentage has dipped down to 13.57 percent; an abysmal fall from the 17% odd in 2019 Assembly polls. Whereas, the Congress in Odisha had a traditional vote bank of about 25 percent.
Whereas, the BJD which out of 852 Zilla Parishad zones won 766 seats and the BJP could bag only 42 the Congress trailed the list with 37 seats.
So critical was the situation that the party could not find the right candidates for the major areas coming under Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Berhampur etc for the ensuing municipal elections.
