Where will Congress be in 2024 after poor performance in WB: Sanjay Raut

In a remark that could draw a wedge between state’s two ruling partners, Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut has raised questions on where the Congress will be on a national stage in 2024, following its poor poll performance in West Bengal

In a remark that could draw a wedge between state’s two ruling partners, Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut has raised questions on where the Congress will be on a national stage in 2024, following its poor poll performance in West Bengal.

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While analysing the West Bengal election results in his weekly column RokhThok in Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Raut further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be defeated, but there is no leader to challenge him in Delhi. While batting for a strong leadership, Raut added that key leaders will soon take a decision on forming formidable opposition front.

After a brief pause, Raut has reignited the issue of creating a front of opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) juggernaut head-on in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. While refraining from naming a leader who could lead the opposition’s front, Raut said that the decision will have to be taken collectively.

Earlier, Raut had faced criticism from Congress leaders for backing Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to become the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, which is now headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“In all the state elections, Congress has been left behind. Congress’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the defeat in Bengal is a “humiliating loss”. In the 290-member Assembly, the Congress and Left parties did not win a single seat. We are happy with [West Bengal chief minister] Mamata’s [Banerjee] victory, but the pain of Congress’s decline is equally strong. Where will Congress be on the national stage in 2024? Has Mamata’s victory given a new direction for the general election in 2024? If the opposition decides to come together, then who would lead it? This must be decided with consensus and Congress will have to give its nod,” Raut wrote in his column.

Later in the day, Raut clarified that he did not seek a new leadership and added that Congress party would remain the “soul” of the Opposition front.

“Everybody wants to create a front that would challenge the government. The soul of this Opposition front will definitely be Congress. No front can be created without Congress. They got seats in Assam but unfortunately couldn’t come to power. They have had some success in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. But Congress needs to lunge forward.... Congress, which is the largest party in the Opposition, has not won any seat in the West Bengal Assembly election. This is really sad for us. If UPA is strengthened, then Congress will remain the soul of it because it is a national party. I spoke to Pawar saheb about it and soon the leaders will arrive at a decision,” Raut said.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, he said that “whenever Congress fails, they get worried”.

When asked who does he propose to lead the Opposition front, Raut retorted, “I have not said anything about new leadership. We all have to sit together and decide a leader; everybody thinks he is the leader, but it not so. And aghadis (coalitions) are not created in this manner. The three parties in Maharashtra decided that their leader is Uddhav Thackeray and it is a model front where three ideologically opposite parties have come together. All parties will have to come together to create such a front on a national level.”

According to Raut, BJP is not undefeatable but the challenge is a strong leadership against Narendra Modi. He batted for a strong leadership against Modi and BJP. He said that despite back-to-back losses in the Vidhan Sabha elections, Modi and not BJP, is winning the Lok Sabha election.

“This is Modi’s victory, because there is no such leader in Delhi that would challenge him. Until such a leader is made, there will be no contest. Results in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have shown then Modi and Shah can be defeated no matter how much might they put into an election. This means that the idea that Modi is a popular leader to win election is not flawless. The weak leadership and lack of machinery with the Opposition is the political strength of Modi-[home minister Amit] Shah,” he added.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said that they do not pay attention to Raut’s statements about their party. “We do not pay attention to what Raut says; whatever we wanted to tell him [about strengthening UPA], we have done it in the past. We have stopped reading Saamana as well. It is better to ignore things where our leaders or our organisation is being criticised. If somebody thinks that their party can get prominence by pointing finger at another party, they must see that four fingers point back at them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye advised former ally Shiv Sena to look at who they are following.

“Congress will respond Sena’s latest criticism. But if they think Congress is doing poorly, then they should see who their ally is,” Upadhye said.