NEW DELHI: The electoral drubbing has left Congress leaders worried in poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh with a looming fear that the results will have a bearing especially in the western state where the AAP is planning big.
Though Congress posed a formidable challenge to the BJP in 2017 by limiting the ruling party to below 100 seats in 182-member House, it is in complete disarray this time.
The recent change of guard in the Gujarat unit seems to have further increased trouble. The two states will go to polls by the end of this year.
Several state leaders said that the results in the five states would impact the party’s electoral fortune in Gujarat as several leaders, including sitting MLAs who were upset with organizational change, might join the AAP or the BJP. The AAP is preparing to contest the polls with the launch of a Tiranga Yatra from April.
‘‘If the top leadership cannot ensure even one win in Gandhi bastions of Raebareli and Amethi, what do we expect from them? Apna ghar to bacha nahi paye! (They failed to save their own house),” said a senior Gujarat leader.
A former Gujarat MLA said the party should allow the state unit to manage the election rather than parachuting central leaders.
“In 2017, Krishna Allavaru was in charge of Gujarat elections and we lost due to poor management. He was sent to Punjab and look at the results.”
In Himachal Pradesh last year, the Congress scored a major upset by winning all three assembly seats of Arki, Jubbal-Kotkhai and Fatehpur in bypoll.
The party had touted it as the sentiment of the people, but the faction-riddled state unit could impact the party’s performance.