MUMBAI: The Congress in Maharashtra appears worried over the dismal performance of the party in Bihar Assembly polls, with many party leaders saying that the poll results should wake up the cadre as well as the leadership. “Our future is bleak if we continue to underperform. The weakening of the party will result in more political space being available for regional parties,” said a former Congress chief minister requesting anonymity.
He said in Bihar despite anti-incumbency and a wave in favour of Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress managed to win only 19 seats against the 70 it contested. “In the 2019 Maharashtra polls too, the Congress contested over 120 seats, but managed to win 44 seats without any support of the central leadership, which assumed that the party would not come to power,” said another senior party leader.
“Had the top leaders campaigned in the Vidarbha region, we would have won at least 10 more seats. A pessimistic attitude will not help.”“Regional parties are traditional allies of the Congress. But given the situation, they will not allow us more seats fearing the party would lose. They will become more assertive, damaging our seat-bargaining power in any election. On the other hand, the BJP is growing. This is not a good situation,” averred another senior party leader.
“The Congress should accept that it is no more a big political force in India. Once it loses the space to regional parties, then it will be very difficult for the party to bounce back. We have seen it in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and now Bihar,” said the party leader. “The top leadership should abolish the feudal party structure and empower local leaders. That’s the only way forward,” he said. “Besides, there should be a full-time party president who should be an active politician,” he added.
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