Brij Bhardwaj
It took years of hard work by Rahul Gandhi in the form of a long march and the formation of the opposition group INDIA to challenge the BJP in the 2024 polls for the Lok Sabha, in which the Congress was nearly able to touch a tally of a hundred and the BJP was unable to get a majority on its own, ultimately having to seek the help of the Telugu Desam Party and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar to build a majority in the Lok Sabha. The loss in the recent Haryana State Assembly poll where the BJP was voted to power for its third term brought them back fully revived and roaring ahead for more gains in the Maharashtra Assembly poll.
The sad part of the story is that the reverse has been suffered by the Congress in Haryana, to a very large extent of its own making. To start with, it became arrogant and refused to form an alliance with either the Aam Aadmi Party or their UP ally Akhilesh Yadav, who each wanted a few seats. Even in its own ranks, the Congress made Dalit leaders and others unhappy by giving the upper hand to former Chief Minister and Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Its total reliance on the Jat community made Dalits, Ahirs, and Punjabis turn their back on the Congress Party.
These groups had supported the Congress and given them an edge in the Lok Sabha polls. BJP, despite anti-incumbency sentiments, has been in power for two terms. In the past, no political party had ever been voted back to power for a third term with the exception of Gujarat, the home State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Realising this, the BJP changed the Chief Minister of Haryana a few months before the poll. It also dropped many sitting members. Its selection of candidates was also better. A last minute difference was made by the entry of RSS workers who worked to bring out reluctant voters which made a huge difference. A dozen seats were won with a margin of 500 to 1500 votes by the BJP. In the Lok Sabha poll, RSS workers were not active.
So the BJP, which was expected to be fighting a losing battle, emerged the winner, while the Congress, declared as the winner by all pollsters, lost. The Haryana elections result has turned the tables not only on the INDIA group but made all members of the group pick points with the Congress for being arrogant and not giving enough room to regional parties. As a consequence, in UP, Akhilesh Yadav declared the names of his party candidates for elections to the State Assembly without discussions with the Congress Party, who wanted a large share.
In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena wanted former Chief Minister Udhav Balasahab Thakray to be declared as the MVA candidate as future Chief Minister while the Congress wanted a majority in the selection of candidates for Assembly on the basis of their performance in the Lok Sabha poll. In Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, future Chief Minister, said that the National Conference could have won the Assembly poll in Jammu and Kashmir without an alliance with the Congress party. He has also undone his dependence on the Congress by getting many independent members to join the National Conference. He is also not willing to give two berths to Congress party in State Cabinet and post of Deputy speaker in State Assembly. A final call on this subject is yet to be taken.
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