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'Arrogance, entitlement': Allies mock Congress over Haryana election debacle
Haryana results: The BJP won 48 out of 90 seats in the Haryana assembly while Congress managed to win 37 seats.
The Congress on Wednesday came under severe criticism from its INDIA bloc allies after the party lost the Haryana assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party. While Shiv Sena (UBT) questioned the Congress's decision to go solo in Haryana, the Trinamool Congress accused the party of "arrogance and entitlement".
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut today said the Congress ignored the overtures of smaller parties thinking they could win the elections alone. He also praised the BJP.
"INDIA alliance could not win in Haryana because the Congress felt they would win on their own and they did not need any other partner in power. Congress leader Hooda Ji felt we would win. If they (Congress) had shared seats with the Samajwadi Party, AAP or other smaller parties, the results would have been different. The way the BJP fought the elections is very good. BJP won a lost battle. Everybody believed the Congress was winning but it still lost and the BJP won because it has a systematic system, management, we need it to give to them for this," Raut said.
He said the INDIA bloc won in Jammu and Kashmir because of the leadership of Farooq Abdullah.
"We won in J-K because INDIA was contesting in the alliance with JKNC under Farooq Abdullah," he added.
Watch: NC Sweeps, BJP Rejected By Kashmir, AAP’s Stunning Debut | Key Takeaways
The Congress is in talks with Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP for seat-sharing in Maharashtra.
Thackeray has demanded that the Congress and NCP-SP declare the alliance's chief ministerial face before the Maharashtra elections.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi's first reaction to Haryana election loss: ‘Will inform EC about complaints’
The BJP won 48 out of 90 seats in the Haryana assembly while Congress managed to win 37 seats. Independents won 3 seats and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) secured 2 seats.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar said her party would contest the Delhi elections alone.
"We will contest Delhi (assembly) elections alone. On one side it's the overconfident Congress and on the other side, it's the arrogant BJP. We will contest the election based on what we have done in Delhi in the last 10 years," she added.
TMC MP Saket Gokhale took a jibe at the Congress without naming the party.
He said arrogance, entitlement and looking down on regional parties was a recipe for disaster.
Also read: Omar Abdullah's ‘Supreme Court’ warning to Centre over nomination of MLAs
"This attitude leads to electoral losses- if we feel we're winning, we will not accommodate any regional party... But in states where we're down, regional parties must accommodate us," the TMC MP said.
"Arrogance, entitlement, and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster," he added.
Also read: Haryana election results: Many political families lose bastions
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said the Congress will have to introspect deeply to find reasons for its defeat in Haryana.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
