2022 has not got off to a good start for the Opposition, particularly the Congress, with yet another electoral defeat. The grand old party lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party and is now in power in just two states, the same as the nine-year-old AAP. Its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s maiden election campaign failed in UP and Rahul Gandhi’s much-hyped Channi gamble flopped in Punjab.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav suffered heartbreak too as the alliance with RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary failed to oust the BJP, while the BSP’s obituary has been nearly written. With Gujarat coming up later this year and the build-up to 2024 Lok Sabha elections kicking off, opposition parties will be lining up meetings to take stock of this defeat.
Here are five stories on News18.com that explain what went wrong for the Congress and others in 2022:
People Want Their Leaders on the Ground
The decimation of the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, led by prominent women leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mayawati, has proven that people are no longer impressed with smart slogans but want their leaders on the ground amidst them. Priyanka had promised to shift base to Lucknow soon after being appointed the Congress General Secretary in charge of the state but never did so. Mayawati was hardly seen in the public space or hitting the streets on any issue of public relevance.
Priyanka Gandhi came up with the ‘Ladki Hun Lad Sakti Hun’ campaign and gave a record number of tickets to women candidates but a majority of them lost their deposits, showing that winnability was hardly a factor in such choices. What worked against the BSP was the impression that it was acting as BJP’s B-team and Muslim voters seem to have fully rallied behind the Samajwadi Party. FULL STORY
How Cong Lost Punjab in 3 Years
The Congress lost badly in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to a second Narendra Modi wave in the country, but there was a silver lining. This was from Punjab where Captain Amarinder Singh as CM had beaten all odds to deliver eight out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Within three years of the same, the Congress has lost Punjab with all its top leaders crashing to defeats.
So how did the Congress get there? The answers for the same lie in what brought the Congress to power in 2017, a series of missteps by the Gandhi siblings and bitter infighting in the ranks which never ebbed. Above all, the Congress defeat in Punjab is a case of a deep yearning in the state for “change” and people bought the dream of corruption-free governance and change of system as promised by Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann. FULL STORY
Tough Task Ahead for Sukhbir Badal
Much was at stake for Shiromani Akali Dal leader and its chief ministerial face Sukhbir Singh Badal in these elections, for it was meant to be a generational shift in the party with the senior Badal hoping to see his son in the leadership and eventual CM role. But the AAP sweep decimated Badal’s hope and left Sukhbir with a lot of ground to recover. Badal himself lost from stronghold Jalalabad to AAP’s Jagdeep Kamboj.
With the defeat, will the SAD lose its tag of a regional satrap? With party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, too, losing for the second time, it shows the party’s outreach has failed. Out of the race in Punjab after this verdict, it will have to find a way to keep itself politically relevant in the state politics, as national politics seems a distant dream for now. FULL STORY
Classic Case of Congress Hara-Kiri
One of the biggest headlines from the Assembly election results 2022 on March 10 is the total collapse of the Congress. As the BJP swept this round of state elections 4-1, the Congress turned out to be a non-player under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. It is abundantly clear the voters have absolutely no faith for the Congress under the Gandhis.
Sonia Gandhi, the longest serving Congress president, has done her bit and Rahul Gandhi cannot turn around the Congress fortunes. Rahul, at best, can step down and allow a non-Gandhi to take over. FULL STORY
All at Sea in Coastal State
Aside from the defeat to the ruling BJP in Goa, one thing that majorly embarrassed the Congress was losing a part of its vote bank to the state’s youngest political outfit, the Revolutionary Goans Party. RG, as the party is popularly called, gave Rahul Gandhi (RG)’s party a run for its money and hurt the Congress’s vote share in at least five major constituencies.
The Congress won 11 seats in Goa, almost 8 below their expectations, say party leaders. But what hurt them the most was how Goa’s youngest party, Revolutionary Goans, set them back by taking away 1,000-1,500 votes each in Curtorim, Valpoi, Shiroda, and Curchorem. FULL STORY
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