RAIPUR: The Congress fared poorly in the Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh because it failed to effectively counter the BJP’s aggressive campaign centred around the Pulwama attack, the Balakot airstrike, and nationalism, the party has determined.
This was among the prominent causes cited for the Congress winning only two of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, as the party held a marathon review meeting to explore the reasons for the poll debacle just five months after it returned to power in the state with a landslide victory in the Assembly elections.
During the meeting, most Congress MLAs struggled to pinpoint the specific reasons for the party losing the parliamentary elections after its emphatic victory in the 2018 Assembly elections. The review and introspection meeting was held in Raipur in the presence of state party in-charge P L Punia, AICC secretary Chandan Yadav.
In one-to-one interactions with the party’s candidates and district presidents, Punia asked them about the reasons for the party’s defeat. There were complaints of conflicts in some constituencies that led to alleged sabotage against the party’s candidates.
But the party leaders admitted that the Congress couldn’t effectively counter the “BJP’s aggressive campaign centred around the Pulwama attack, Balakot airstrike, nationalism and propagation of information of misleading nature”, as one of them put it. When contacted, the party leaders claimed that the reasons could be diverse.
Expected better
Party insiders said that they were confident of winning at least seven seats. The party leaders were asked to improve their performance in their regions. The party praised the work done by its workers and leaders.