INDIA bloc allies spit fire on Congress after Haryana debacle

NEW DELHI (Ajoy Misra): The ‘Big Brother’ attitude of Congress, especially after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in which it won 99 seats—from 53 in 2019—has come for criticism from its alliance partners of INDIA block after the Haryana Assembly election. Almost all the major parties have criticized the grand old party for its bullying tactics.

The party has come under fire from its INDIA bloc allies who squarely blamed the grand old party for the debacle in Haryana and several leaders accused it of being ‘arrogant, overconfident and entitled. The Shiv Sena (UBT) attributed the Congress’s poor show to the ‘overconfidence and arrogance’ of the party’s state leadership. In one of its editorial of Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana, it asked the Congress leadership to introspect and learn from its mistakes. The jibe comes at a time when Congress and the alliance partners are engaged in seat-sharing talks ahead of the Maharashtra elections, scheduled for later this year.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, “The INDIA alliance could not win in Haryana because the Congress felt they would win on their own and they did not need any other partner in power. If they had shared seats with the SP, AAP or other smaller parties, the results would have been different.” The Congress’ Haryana unit had refused to accommodate the AAP and the SP, though senior leader Rahul Gandhi was in favour of it.

Uttar Pradesh ally Samajwadi Party on Wednesday released a list of six candidates for the upcoming Assembly by-polls giving another jolt to the grand old party.
Congress leaders were upset about the SP’s unilateral move as it came in the middle of ongoing talks. The leaders of AAP and TMC were unsparing towards the Congress. AAP leaders also ruled out any truck with the Congress in Delhi assembly elections, scheduled for early next year.

AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha penned a poem on X: “If you had cared about my wishes, it would have been a different matter, If you had taken care of our desires, it would have been a different evening. Today he too must be regretting leaving me, If we had walked together it would have been something else.” Several Opposition leaders including Congress’ Jammu & Kashmir ally Omar Abdullah, the Left parties, and Bihar ally RJD targeted the Congress and asked it to introspect and change its strategies. “Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat,” Abdullah said.