NEW DELHI: Excessive rural focus of the Bhupesh Baghel government“communal mobilisation” by the BJP and prolonged infighting in the party were cited as reasons behind the Congress defeat in Chhattisgarh electionsas the party leadership brainstormed the debacle with state leaders on Friday.
In the review of the defeat in Madhya Pradesh polls chaired by Congresschief Mallikarjun Kharge, and attended by Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders including Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, and AICC incharge Randeep Surjewala, questions were raised about the role of EVMs.Some leaders felt that Congress focus was on one person (Kamal Nath), which did not allow for collective projection of leaders and communities, unlike the BJP. It was also noted that the BJP won nearly 80% of the seats dominated by the OBCs, and that the urban areas voted for the BJP. It was largely the strong backing of SC/ST and minorities that Congress maintained its 2018 vote share, it was argued.
About Chhattisgarh, the AICC brass underlined that Congress had almost retained its 2018 vote share with 42%, but the BJP increased its kitty by around 13% from the last time, which was found to be the result of the BJP cornering the votes of smaller parties like the Jogi Congress. The completely bipolar contest, it was noted, was clear from the fact that BJP and Congress used to corner 76% of total votes, but split as much as 88.5% votes between them in these polls.
Sources said caste census did not come up for discussion, but there was a focus on Congress losing all but two of the 18 urban seats, especially the rout in Raipur region which was seen as a stronghold of chief minister Baghel.
Post-poll, the local analysts have attributed Congress’s poor show in urban areas to the Hindutva campaign and the party’s stress on caste census.
The meeting, however, found overwhelmingly rural focus of the government being cited as a reason for setback in cities.
In the review of the defeat in Madhya Pradesh polls chaired by Congresschief Mallikarjun Kharge, and attended by Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders including Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, and AICC incharge Randeep Surjewala, questions were raised about the role of EVMs.Some leaders felt that Congress focus was on one person (Kamal Nath), which did not allow for collective projection of leaders and communities, unlike the BJP. It was also noted that the BJP won nearly 80% of the seats dominated by the OBCs, and that the urban areas voted for the BJP. It was largely the strong backing of SC/ST and minorities that Congress maintained its 2018 vote share, it was argued.
About Chhattisgarh, the AICC brass underlined that Congress had almost retained its 2018 vote share with 42%, but the BJP increased its kitty by around 13% from the last time, which was found to be the result of the BJP cornering the votes of smaller parties like the Jogi Congress. The completely bipolar contest, it was noted, was clear from the fact that BJP and Congress used to corner 76% of total votes, but split as much as 88.5% votes between them in these polls.
Sources said caste census did not come up for discussion, but there was a focus on Congress losing all but two of the 18 urban seats, especially the rout in Raipur region which was seen as a stronghold of chief minister Baghel.
Post-poll, the local analysts have attributed Congress’s poor show in urban areas to the Hindutva campaign and the party’s stress on caste census.
The meeting, however, found overwhelmingly rural focus of the government being cited as a reason for setback in cities.