Assembly elections 2019: BJP’s polarisation won’t work, says KC Venugopal

Congress general secretary in-charge of the organisation KC Venugopal said on Thursday that the turn in the fate of the Opposition in the Haryana and the Maharashtra elections are an indication that polarisation does not always work.

The elections, he said in an interview to Hindustan Times, also holds a lesson to turncoats like Alpesh Thakor.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

In Haryana, do you believe the Congress has a chance at forming the government? Are there talks with the Chautalas?

We are waiting for the final tally before we take any step, or start any talks. The numbers have been changing constantly.

There is the idea that the change of leadership in Haryana, if done earlier, could have led to an easy win. Do you believe that?

Don’t want to answer on hypothetical situations.

There is a buzz that the party might also reach out to the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, with which the Congress stands diametrically opposite ideologically. Is that true?

We will have to stick to the party’s ideological stand. How can we compromise on it?

So, you are ruling out reaching out to the Sena?

No, I’m not ruling it out. We are waiting for a final tally on Maharashtra too.

For full coverage of Haryana, Maharashtra assembly elections 2019, Click here.

The party plans an agitation on the economic downturn. What exactly is the plan?

We had planned to carry out these marches earlier in October. But due to the by-elections, we had to postpone it. We are now carrying it out in November.

Marches at all the districts throughout the country, at state headquarters opposite government offices will be held. A march to central government offices will be held in Delhi, too.

What worked for the Opposition in Haryana?

(The reason for the Opposition’s surge is) misgovernance of the Haryana government as well as the central government. The day before yesterday, you must have heard that a strike has happened at the Pakistan border, which shows the way they (BJP) use the forces for the election campaign.

They only talk of (Article) 370 and do not talk of farmers distress or unemployment. They only take the polarisation line. You cannot win every election with polarisation.

Maybe once you can. This is a clear lesson. Unfortunately, the entire media wrote us off, some gave us three seats in the exit polls in Haryana.

But what will stop MLAs from joining the BJP?

There is a clear lesson here for rebels like Alpesh Thakor. The party has given him everything it could. He got votes on an anti-BJP plank and then went and joined the BJP.

This type of horse-trading does not help in the long run. In Haryana and Maharashtra, they took a lot of sitting Congress as well as NCP MLAs. There was an I-T (income tax) threat on (Nationalist Congress Party leader) Praful Patel just days ago, which is a clear use of state machinery.