The Assembly elections of four States and by-elections in many States after the Lok Sabha election have created an atmosphere of upheaval in the politics of the Opposition. After getting more seats than expected in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party started behaving arbitrarily with the Opposition parties. In the Jammu Kashmir Assembly election, the Congress party took almost double the seats of its strength and also fielded candidates against its ally the National Conference on seven seats.
Also, the Congress party did not campaign wholeheartedly on the 38 seats of its quota. The Congress party campaigned in the Kashmir valley where the National Conference was strong. The Congress party behaved like this with its ally National Conference in Jammu Kashmir in the euphoria of getting more seats than expected in the Lok Sabha election.
In the Assembly elections in Haryana, the Congress party refused to forge an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. According to reports, the Congress party arrogantly refused to give even three or four seats to the Aam Aadmi Party. The Congress party thought that its victory in Haryana was certain and hence it rejected AAP’s hopes of any alliance as per reports.
Even in Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Congress party did not behave well with its allies and during the entire election process, the Congress party along with its other allies kept giving the impression of being the biggest party. In Maharashtra, the Congress party fought Lok Sabha elections on 17 seats under INDI Alliance and was completely drenched in the euphoria of winning 13 seats and did not give any party a chance to come at par with it.
In Jharkhand too, the Congress party did not have good behavior with the local ally the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and apart from taking more seats than its strength, it also had friendly contests on many seats like in Jammu and Kashmir. This behavior of Congress party was not acceptable to the parties of I.N.D.I Alliance and all these parties kept preparing their strategy by keeping quiet but carefully observing the changed behavior of the Congress party.
Earlier in the 2020 during Bihar Assembly elections, the Congress party fielded candidates on 70 seats, many times more than its due strength, but won only 19 seats, which hurt the alliance. There are many other instances in which the Congress party pressurized its allies and got more seats from them, and the election result went against the alliance.
Now, the voice of rebellion against the Congress party has started emerging in the Opposition alliance. Many parties have openly and many parties have started raising questions on the leadership of the Opposition alliance of the Congress party in a hushed voice. Many parties have demanded that Mamata Banerjee be made the new leader in place of Rahul Gandhi. Lalu Yadav’s name is prominent among these leaders. Lalu Yadav knows that in the Bihar Assembly elections to be held next year, the Congress party will again demand more seats as per its habit, so Lalu Yadav and his party are already trying to distance themselves from the Congress party.
The first name among those who openly spoke against the Congress party on the division issues is that of the second-in-command of the Jammu Kashmir National Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Omar Abdullah did not consult the Congress party for the expansion of the Cabinet and did not include the Congress party in the Cabinet. In Jharkhand, the JMM out rightly rejected the demand of the Congress party for a Deputy Chief Minister. In Jharkhand, the Congress party is now moving ahead on the lines drawn by the JMM out of compulsion.
Due to this dogmatism of the Congress party, the Aam Aadmi Party has clearly refused any kind of alliance in the Delhi Assembly elections. Just as the Congress party could not open its account in the Delhi Assembly in the last two Assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, the entire script of this is being prepared that it will not be able to open its account this time too.
