A day after the Congress’s poor present in Haryana and the Jammu and Kashmir Meeting elections, its INDIA bloc allies on Wednesday additional turned up the warmth on the occasion, saying it was weakening the alliance by “being inflexible”.
The Samajwadi Occasion (SP) declared candidates for six of the ten Meeting seats in Uttar Pradesh the place bypolls are anticipated to be held within the coming months, whereas Nationwide Convention (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah, who is anticipated to change into the following Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, stated the Congress must dig deep to search out the explanations for its defeat. “My job is to run the NC and assist the alliance right here, which I’ll,” he stated.
Among the many different allies who criticised the Congress’s “overconfidence” are the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the DMK, and the Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP). The refrain within the INDIA bloc was that the Congress doesn’t need to accommodate its regional allies in locations the place it’s robust, however seeks seats in states the place the occasion doesn’t have a big footprint.
The SP’s resolution to announce candidates for Karhal, Sisamu, Phulpur, Milkipur, Katehari, and Majhawan even earlier than the dates for the by-elections are introduced signifies that the occasion’s bargaining energy within the state could have taken successful. Of those seats, the Congress was eyeing Majhawan. It additionally needs to contest Meerapur in west UP and Phulpur within the japanese a part of the state.
“They didn’t give us a single seat in Haryana when there’s a sizable Ahirwal (Yadav) inhabitants within the state. The Congress is weakening the INDIA bloc by being so inflexible. They need seats in UP the place they managed to win two seats within the 2022 Meeting elections when the Congress contested 403 seats. We gave them 17 seats within the Lok Sabha elections as a result of our most important purpose is to take everybody alongside and defeat the BJP. The Congress does the alternative,” stated a senior SP chief, including that the Congress misplaced its bargaining chip within the UP bypolls after dropping a state “it was so smug about”.
SP nationwide spokesperson Ashok Yadav, nonetheless, attributed the choice to announce candidates to offer them time to organize for the elections. “We’ll attempt to accommodate the Congress,” he stated.
Congress normal secretary Avinash Pande who’s accountable for UP informed The Indian Categorical additionally stated the SP’s transfer was not worrying. “The highest management of the events will maintain conferences. We’ll discover the chances and a call will likely be taken,” he stated.
On Wednesday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) additionally hit out on the Congress, saying it erred by not giving seats to the AAP and the SP in Haryana. In an editorial, the occasion’s mouthpiece Saamana stated the overconfidence and vanity of native Congress leaders had been behind the Haryana defeat.
“In Haryana, Congress saved its INDIA bloc companions like AAP and others away. On this sport, it misplaced the whole state. In Jammu and Kashmir, the INDIA bloc received however in Haryana, Congress was left behind. This image shouldn’t be good for the INDIA bloc,” learn the editorial.
“The Congress thought it might win by itself and nobody would share energy … There are smaller events that might have gotten a number of seats. I consider the BJP fought elections in a formidable manner and received a misplaced battle,” stated Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. His occasion colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Tuesday informed The Indian Categorical that the Congress must introspect why it loses direct contests with the BJP and hinted that the “new actuality in Haryana” would have a bearing on the seat-sharing talks in Maharashtra.
TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale additionally questioned the Congress’s “perspective” in the direction of its allies and stated “vanity, entitlement, and searching down on regional events is a recipe for catastrophe”.
On Tuesday, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had questioned the Congress’s resolution to not take alongside its allies in Haryana. The AAP and the Congress tried to sew up an alliance however the talks fell aside weeks earlier than the elections. It proved pricey for the Congress because the AAP polled extra votes than the BJP’s victory margin in three seats.
“Who was going to be the CM in Haryana? Somebody from the Congress. Who was going to type the federal government? Congress. Who had good possibilities there? Congress. What was AAP saying? Please attain a settlement with us and we are able to collectively defeat the BJP. The Samajwadi Occasion additionally made efforts. They didn’t take both the SP or AAP alongside. The Congress ought to do an evaluation,” stated Singh.
Whereas the CPI(M), which was given the Bhiwani seat, and the DMK additionally referred to as on the Congress to introspect, CPI chief D Raja stated seat-sharing within the INDIA bloc was not being “performed in a correct manner”.
