Partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) turned up the heat of the Congress on Wednesday as jockeying for upcoming state elections intensified — a day after the party slumped to a shock loss in Haryana and performed poorly on its own in Jammu & Kashmir.
Allies in Maharashtra and Jharkhand – both states are scheduled to hold critical assembly elections later this year – signalled that they will bargain harder for more seats as the Congress appeared to be reeling from the jolt in Haryana, a state where it was widely expected to post a massive win.
The result was a blow not just for the grand old party but the wider INDIA bloc as it came at a time when the Opposition was gaining momentum after its strong performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections prevented the Bharatiya Janata Party from reaching the majority mark on its own.
Leaders from a wide array of INDIA bloc partners, ranging from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Trinamool Congress, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, on Wednesday called for an introspection by the Congress , and cautioned the grand old party against marginalising its partners.
Separately, key ally Samajwadi Party released a list of six names for upcoming bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, with Congress leaders saying no information was given before the announcement. Left parties said the Congress needed to become self-critical and take all allies along. And, another INDIA bloc member Aam Aadmi Party reiterated its stance that there would be no alliance in Delhi elections likely early next year, calling the Congress “overconfident”.
{{/usCountry}}Separately, key ally Samajwadi Party released a list of six names for upcoming bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, with Congress leaders saying no information was given before the announcement. Left parties said the Congress needed to become self-critical and take all allies along. And, another INDIA bloc member Aam Aadmi Party reiterated its stance that there would be no alliance in Delhi elections likely early next year, calling the Congress “overconfident”.
{{/usCountry}}Read more: Nuh riots accused scores biggest win in Haryana assembly election; lowest margin of 32 votes is…
“Wherever the Congress is weak, it takes help from the regional parties. But where it thinks it is strong, the Congress attaches no importance to the regional parties,” Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and his wife Champai on Wednesday. Gandhi also hailed the J&K win as “a victory of the Constitution and democratic self-respect”. “We are analysing the unexpected results of Haryana. We will inform the Election Commission about the complaints coming from many assembly constituencies,” he said.
The meeting between the Congress and the JMM brass, party insiders suggested, aimed to show that the Congress was ready to bounce back for the upcoming polls. But others remained doubtful. The tussle came a day after the BJP pulled off a historic and improbable victory in Haryana, and looked set to form the government for a third consecutive time. The incumbent won 48 out of the 90 seats and the Congress only 37, defying a clutch of exit polls and surveys that had predicted a wave in favour of the Congress.
The two parties ran close in vote share, but the Congress failed to carry forward the momentum it gained from the Lok Sabha polls – it had staved off a BJP sweep of the state after a decade and won five of the 10 seats – due to poor planning, overcentralisation, infighting, and not aligning with other forces. The party was also done in by its overreliance on Jats, a dominant community that makes up a fourth of the state’s population but is also resented by weaker communities for its social dominance.
In J&K, the National Conference-Congress alliance won 49 out of the 90 seats and appeared set to form the next government in the Union territory, but there was little solace for the Congress in its own performance – winning just six of the 39 seats it contested. In the Jammu region, where it was expected to do well and was in a direct fight with the BJP, it won just one seat. Even NC leader Omar Abdullah said the Congress needed to introspect to find reasons for its defeat in Haryana. “The Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat,” he said.
But the sharpest criticism came from the Sena (UBT), which is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi along with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. Elections in Maharashtra are expected to be announced any day now.
“We could win in J&K because the INDIA bloc was fighting there under the leadership of Omar and Farooq Abdullah. In Haryana, the INDIA bloc did not fight together because the Congress thought they could win on their own. Hooda ji is our friend, he thought he could win on his own,” Raut said. He said parties such as the SP, AAP or even his own party Sena (UBT) could have fought a few seats in Haryana and that could have made a difference.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also pointed out that it was a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress. “The Congress has to introspect. There was a direct contest with the BJP. Where did they all fall short? I am sure they will analyse that.
A senior Rajya Sabha leader of the Trinamool Congress also echoed a similar sentiment. “The Congress lost again when it was a straight fight between the Congress and the BJP. Regional parties do much better in defeating the BJP,” he said.
The TMC leader wondered if the Congress could ever shed its “big brother attitude” and said, “After they lost Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, they reached out to INDIA parties because they needed help for Lok Sabha in 2024. Because they doubled their tally from 2019 to 2024, they again started their arrogant ways. They should have been generous with AAP and SP.”
Pointing out that the NC did the heavy lifting in J&K, the TMC leader said, “We can only hope Haryana has taught the Congress a lesson, not to be repeated in Jharkhand and Maharashhtra. Congress has given the BJP the life jacket they were looking for.”
The AAP, which was keen on an alliance in Haryana with the Congress but talks broke down with days to go for the polls, reiterated that it will go solo in Delhi assembly polls. “In Delhi, AAP will contest alone. We are capable of fighting the overconfident Congress and arrogant BJP alone,” AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said.
She blamed the Congress for not taking alliance partners seriously in Haryana and facing a rout due to its overconfidence. “The Congress has had zero seats in the Delhi assembly for the past 10 years, yet AAP gave Congress three seats in the Lok Sabha polls; still they did not feel necessary to take allies along in Haryana,” she said. AAP leader Raghav Chadha posted a couplet on X that said, “If you had cared about our wishes, it would have been a different matter, If you had taken care of our desires, it would have been a different evening Today he too must be regretting leaving me, If we had walked together it would have been something else.”
On Tuesday, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had said the biggest lesson from the recent round of elections was that one should not be “overconfident”.
In Lucknow, the SP announced candidates for six of the 10 Uttar Pradesh assembly seats where bypolls are due later this year. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the seat sharing with the Congress will be decided by party chief Akhilesh Yadav. “It is true, no information is there about it. There has been no discussion with the coordination committee of the INDIA yet,” said UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pande.
The CPI (Marxist) said the results were a lesson for the secular forces rallying against the BJP. “The contrasting results thrown up by Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana state elections, the resounding success in Jammu & Kashmir and the unexpected setback in the latter provide valuable lessons for secular forces in the struggle against BJP in the days to come,” the CPI(M) said.
CPI general secretary D Raja said the Congress should do serious introspection over the poll results and take along all INDIA bloc partners in the upcoming polls. “The Congress has to do some self-critical assessment of its own strategy and tactics,” he said. “The INDIA bloc parties should work with mutual trust, and accommodation. This did not happen in Haryana,” he added.
Maharashtra CM and senior BJP leader Eknath Shinde said that INDIA bloc secured votes in the Lok Sabha elections by peddling “fake narratives”. “That’s why people have made up their minds to reject them,” Shinde told news agency PTI.