Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during an interaction with drivers, gig workers and sanitary workers, at Jubilee Hills in Hyderbad, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Congress' dismal show in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly polls is likely to further isolate the grand old party in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, and it might be forced to play second fiddle to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state in the next LS polls.
Congress lost Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to the BJP and failed to oust the saffron party in MP, though it managed to wrest Telangana from the BRS.
The SP leaders here attributed the Congress' defeat in Rajasthan and MP to the "arrogance" displayed by the grand old party leaders and their "failure" to have an electoral understanding with the SP in the two states.
Though the SP did not hurt the Congress in MP and Rajasthan Assembly polls, the BSP was able to make the contest triangular on a few seats in the two states.
''Congress' arrogance is the most important reason behind its defeat....the party does not believe in taking along its alliance partners....its leader (Kamal Nath) even insulted our national president Akhilesh Yadav,'' said a senior SP leader here while speaking to DH on Sunday.
While the results of the Assembly polls might have come as a huge disappointment for the Congress, these are certain to increase the clout of the SP. I.N.D.I.A alliance partner in the state, Akhilesh Yadav would now be in a position to call the shots in the seat sharing talks in the state with the Congress.
''Congress is no longer in a position to demand 20 seats in the state in the next LS polls...it will have to be content with whatever is given by us,'' the SP leader said, adding that the grand old party might, at best, be given 5-6 seats.
The two parties have already been engaged in a war of words ever since the Congress refused to give SP four seats in the MP Assembly polls. Moreover, Congress' attempts to woo SP leaders by offering them nominations in the next general elections widened the cracks in the I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) in UP.
Congress, which was fighting to remain relevant in UP and was reduced to a fringe player, recently inducted several senior SP leaders, including three time Lok Sabha MP Ravi Prakash Verma.
Akhilesh had already said that his party would contest 65 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state leaving the rest for its alliance partners, which also included the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Apna Dal (Krishna Patel).
BSP supremo Mayawati made it clear that her party will go solo in the next LS polls.
UP BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that the saffron party is certain to sweep UP in the 2024 LS polls. ''We will win even if all the opposition parties join hands,'' he added.