Cong will be more accommodating post poll defeat in three states: RJD

Ajay Kumar
Patna, Dec 9 (IANS) The Congress’ loss in Assembly elections in three states has come as a boon for regional parties like the RJD and the JD(U) in Bihar.

The RJD think tank now believes that the Congress will no longer be in a position to dictate terms to the regional parties in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc after the poor show in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

“We formed the INDIA bloc with the basic aim to contest elections on the formula of one seat, one candidate. However, this was not the case in the just-concluded Assembly elections in the three states and the Congress party went alone thinking that it is strong in those states,” said RJD senior leader Chitranjan Gagan.

"If the grand old party had taken leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav along in seat sharing and during the election campaigns, it would have presented a picture of a united INDIA bloc to the voters and they would have cast their votes differently. But it was not the case and the Congress did not perform well despite its vote percentage remaining the same,” he said.

“Now that the Congress party has lost elections in the three states where it went alone, we are hopeful that it will agree to form poll strategies according to the prominence of political parties in different states.

"For example, the RJD and the JD(U) are the more prominent political parties in Bihar than the Congress and hence the strategy should be made according to them. Similarly, the TMC is strong in West Bengal and so is the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, so they should sit in the driver's seat in the elections in these states.

“Similarly, the Congress party has more influence in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and now Telangana, so the Congress should lead the INDIA bloc in those states. If the Lok Sabha elections are contested on these lines, the BJP can be defeated,” Gagan said.

“We have also analysed the results in the three states and discovered that the saffron party won the contest due to multiple factors, including the shortcomings of the Congress party which did not give respect to regional parties, the discrepancies in EVMs and poor media management.

"Many people are saying why did EVM discrepancies arise only in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and why not in Telangana? I want to say that the BJP follows the rules of traders. If you win everywhere then people would challenge you. But if you win in three states and lose one, then no one can challenge you. The same thing is happening here with the BJP,” Gagan said.

When asked how they would tackle this situation, especially in the Lok Sabha elections which are a do or die battle for the BJP, Gagan said, “Enhancing the percentage of votes in favour of INDIA is the only solution.”

When asked if the bargaining power of the RJD and the JD(U) was enhanced now, Gagan said that the Congress understands the importance of regional parties and this is the reason why the INDIA bloc was formed.

“The Congress top leadership was dependent on Kamal Nath and he failed to analyse the importance of regional parties. Overconfidence sometimes hurts you and the same thing happened with the Congress party,” he said.

Reacting to Lalu Prasad Yadav who said Rahul Gandhi was the “groom”, Gagan said that the RJD leader did not say that Rahul Gandhi would be the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc.

“Our alliance is not like the BJP where only Narendra Modi and Amit Shah control all power. Saying that Rahul Gandhi is the ‘groom’ is not like this. We have a clear view that the prime minister will be elected post the Lok Sabha election results,” Gagan said.