Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, this election, despite the bitter defeat in the U.P. election has proven that if given a chance the Congress can make the right noises. It played its cards well but could only win two seats. Congress has seen a steady downslide starting 2014. 2014 saw the BJP enter the Centre made sure that Congress saw its downslide. 2014 was not just the year Of Modi’s national rise, but the time to write the script for the fall of the Congress. Narendra Modi emerged in the national politics and he went on to cover the entire nation. As PM Modi's aura grew, the mass of the Congress kept shrinking. Since 2014, 45 elections have been held in the country and only five elections have come in the share of Congress. Congress lost three of them too and now it is running the government in only two states.
During the election campaign in UP, this time, where Congress National General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi threw all her might and focused on women voters, made a lot of election promises. Priyanka Gandhi was the only leader of the opposition who was active in the state long before the UP elections. Whether it is the Hathras issue or the farmers' issue, on all of them, she tried to surround the Yogi government fiercely.
After the announcement of the assembly elections, Priyanka Gandhi also campaigned vigorously to regain the mass base of Congress. However, in view of the party's fragile position in the state, the party's interim presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were kept away from the state of UP so that their heads would not be blown away by the defeat. While Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual rally in Rae Bareli constituency in the state, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also addressed two rallies as a guest at the end of the election campaign, including one in Amethi and the other in Varanasi.
Priyanka left no stone unturned in the election campaign of UP. Conducted more than 200 rallies. In this case, she even left Yogi behind. The Congress leader held 209 rallies during the 56-day long election campaign. At the same time, Yogi Adityanath held 203 rallies. There was also a huge crowd in Priyanka's road shows and rallies. However, this did not translate into votes.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was once seen as Brahmastra in the party. She was believed to be the only leader who could rescue the party from even the worst of the situation. However, the results of the UP elections have shattered this myth. In UP, Congress contested on 399 seats. But, she could win only on two. Its vote share was only two per cent.
In the UP elections, the Congress created a stir in many ways. Her campaign 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' made a lot of headlines. The party gave 40 per cent tickets to women. Priyanka had become active in the state long before the elections. Even in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, she was seen standing in the forefront of all the other opposition leaders.
SP got 111 seats and BSP got 1 seat. Some Congress leaders believe that in the future, the local parties will be reduced even more. Congress will benefit from this. Congress leaders have started saying that Priyanka had a big challenge in front of her. The perception is no party base is existing in the state. She is out of power in the state since the 80s. The organization and cadre of the party is also not here. The party will now start working on the next challenge of 2024. Lok Sabha elections are to be held after two years.
Yogi Adityanath is becoming the CM again in Uttar Pradesh, he has won by over one lakh votes. This is the first time in the history of the last 37 years that a single party has succeeded in forming the government twice in a row and this has been done by the BJP.
Congress is an ally in the coalition government in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. The Congress has not been able to do any wonders in the civic elections in many places including Delhi, Hyderabad.
In 2014, when the UPA government was at the center, at that time there was a Congress government in 9 states. These states include some states of the Northeast including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Assam. After the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, apart from Maharashtra and Haryana in the same year. Congress did not get success in any of these four states. In Maharashtra and Haryana, the Congress was out of power and in the other two states also it did not get any chance. In 2015, only two state assembly elections were held. In Bihar, the Congress was a part of the Grand Alliance government and got success, but after two years Nitish Kumar broke away from the Grand Alliance and joined hands with the BJP, after which the Congress was out of power. In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party's broom had dismissed the Congress for 0.
In the assembly elections in 2016, Assembly elections were held in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. For the first time in Assam, the BJP was successful in forming the government and the Tarun Gogoi government of the Congress was sent off by the public.
In Kerala, the Congress was out of power in the state and the Left Front formed the government there. The Congress was successful in forming the government in Puducherry, while in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the Congress remained away from power. At that time in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK government was again formed and in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee had defeated the Congress, Left Front. At that time BJP was not a big power in Bengal.
In 2017, elections were held in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, besides Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Congress had emerged as the single largest party in Goa and Manipur, but its leaders did not leave the five star hotel and BJP formed the government in both the places. After that, the condition of Congress in both the places went on deteriorating. After five years only 2 Congress MLAs were left in Goa. In Punjab, of course, the Congress formed the government under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh. In Uttar Pradesh, Congress settled on 7 seats and in Uttarakhand also it had to sit in opposition. In Gujarat, the Congress gave a tough fight to the BJP, and in Himachal Pradesh, it lost the battle for power to the BJP.
2018 was the best year for the Congress. This year, the Congress formed the government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh by defeating the BJP. While the Congress had to be defeated in Telangana, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland. For the first time in Tripura, the Left Front had to face a heavy defeat and the BJP had waved saffron by dropping its red flag. In Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath formed the government on behalf of the Congress with a small majority and Jyotiraditya Scindia became a rebel and then drowned Kamal Nath's government in 2020. In Chhattisgarh, Congress had got three-fourth majority and in Rajasthan too, Congress formed the government with a small majority. However, later the Congress had strengthened its fort by breaking 6 BSP MLAs. But the rebel stand of Sachin Pilot has troubled the Congress in Rajasthan with the formation of the government.
2019 was the year when the government formed in 2014 was about to be tested. Elections were held in Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim in 2014. In Maharashtra, the Congress proved to be the number four party and in Jharkhand it became a coalition partner in the Hemant Soren government. In Haryana, she had hope but she could not show any miracle. Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim had to taste defeat everywhere. In Andhra Pradesh, the government was formed under the leadership of Jaganmohan, who formed the YSR Congress after breaking the Congress and that too with a three-fourth majority.
That same year the Lok Sabha elections were held and the Congress had raised the issue of Rafale scam loudly, but the public did not believe the slogan of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress was once again on its position like in 2014. After that Rahul Gandhi had resigned from the post of President and till date Congress does not have any permanent President.
Assembly elections were held in Delhi and Bihar once again in 2020. In that election too, the Congress neither had anything to lose nor could it gain. Congress repeated its 0 success in Delhi in 2015 and even after contesting 75 seats in Bihar, Congress won less than 20 assembly seats. Even RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had blamed the defeat of the Grand Alliance on the Congress and said that if the Congress had not taken more seats in the alliance, then the defeat of the Grand Alliance would not have happened. The Congress did not even have candidates, but by insisting, the Congress got maximum seats and the result came out in the form of the defeat of the Grand Alliance.
Talking about 2021, assembly elections were held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal that year. Such was the success of the Congress that year that it joined the Stalin government in Tamil Nadu as a partner. In the rest of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal, it was badly defeated. The BJP government was formed twice in Assam and the Congress was defeated in Puducherry. There the NDA formed the government. This year it happened for the first time in West Bengal that Congress did not get a single seat. The Left Front government in Kerala under the leadership of P. Vijay made a spectacular comeback.
After that in 2022, assembly elections were held in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur and Congress could not get power in any state. They had power in Punjab, which they lost in this election. Congress could get only 2 seats out of 403 seats in UP and that too when Priyanka Gandhi worked hard in UP in two-and-a-half years. In Uttarakhand too, the Congress was hoping for a comeback, but due to mutual discord, the Congress failed to get that too and in Goa too, it would once again sit in the opposition for 5 years. There is no scope left for Congress in Manipur too. In Punjab, even after making the Dalit Chief Minister, the Congress got only 18 seats and the Aam Aadmi Party won there with 92 seats. In this way, in 45 elections after 2014, where Congress formed the government in 5 states, in the elections held after five years, Congress lost three states. If not serious, Congress could lose Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 2023 as well, because there is a great tussle going on in the Congress in those two states as well.
To counter party issues the Congress Working Committee meeting was held after facing a crushing defeat in the assembly elections. Leaders of many dissatisfied factions of Congress have demanded organizational change. The Congress party has denied reports that members of the Gandhi family would resign from organizational posts.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, PL Punia, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma were part of the Congress Working Committee meeting. Despite an intense campaigning led by Priyanka Gandhi, general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, the Congress could win only two of the 403 assembly seats in the state. The vote share of the Congress also came down to 2.33 per cent and most of its candidates forfeited their deposits.
After the crushing defeat of the Congress in these assembly elections, many leaders of the party's 'G23' group also held a meeting in which the strategy ahead was discussed. Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, in a telephonic conversation has admitted that the Congress lost due to organizational weakness, but said there was no need for a change in the party leadership.
Workers say that party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should come to Lucknow to review the defeat separately and also take feedback from Congress workers.
The workers are also proud of the fact that the state leadership of the party has refrained from publicly taking moral responsibility for such a humiliating defeat. Whereas in the past there have been many such instances when the former state presidents of the party did not delay in resigning for not performing as expected in the elections. Some party leaders believe there is no need to despair. They feel that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been wiped out in the state. Even the SP has not been successful in taking on the BJP. In such a situation, going forward, Congress is the only one that can give a fight to the saffron party.
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