NEW DELHI: Following its rout in three states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh -- the Congress on Sunday was at the receiving end from members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc who criticised the grand old party for ignoring them during the assembly elections.
Terming the rout of the Congress in the Hindi heartland a ‘lesson’ to ‘secular democratic parties’, the Left parties on Sunday called for a redoubling of efforts to unite the opposition. The general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) D Raja said that unity is the only way to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress must be accommodative.
The general secretary of the CPI-Marxist (CPI-M) Sitaram Yechury said that the election results underline the need for secular forces to redouble their efforts in defence of people’s livelihoods and the secular democratic character of the Indian republic.
“Election results of 4 states are a lesson to secular-democratic parties. Only through unity & alternative vision for can the RSS-BJP be defeated and our Republic saved. All secular-democratic parties, including INC (Indian National Congress), must engage in introspection to have mutual accommodation,” Raja posted on ‘X’.
Yechury also said that people of India will have to rise together to safeguard the secular democratic foundation and character of the country.
“It is clear that secular democratic forces of the country will have to redouble their efforts in order to safeguard the interest of people and improve people’s livelihood and at the same time to safeguard the secular democratic character of the Indian republic. This redoubling of efforts will have to be made by secular democratic parties and forces,” he said.
Taking on the Congress further, national council member of the CPI and Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Biswam said the outcome of the assembly elections would have been different if the grand old party had honoured the ‘spirit and politics’ of the coalition.
“Election results are eye opener to all. The spirit and politics of INDIA should be understood by everyone, committed to secularism and democracy. Had congress understood this, the results would have been different. CPI proudly states with humility that we fought for the cause of INDIA,” he wrote on social media platform --‘X’.
Expressing concern over the Congress' behaviour during the elections, the vice president of the National Conference and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said that if the situation of the alliance remains the same, coalition members wouldn’t be able to survive.
“If the situation of the INDIA bloc remains the same in future like it has been in the state elections, perhaps, we will not be able to save ourselves. The Congress could not understand the ground situation in Madhya Pradesh. What would have they lost if they had given 5-7 seats to Akhilesh Yadav... They have lost anyway. Had Akhilesh been given a few seats, we could have saved ourselves a bit in MP,” Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.
Opposition parties are expected to analyse the electoral developments in the three states during the next INDIA bloc meeting scheduled on December 6.
Training its guns on the Congress, the spokesperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Kunal Ghosh said that the results are ‘more of a failure of the Congress than a success story of the BJP’.
“TMC is the party which can provide leadership in the battle to defeat the BJP in the country,” he wrote on ‘X’. He further stated that these polls would not have an impact on the general election to be held next year. No reaction from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was available till late Sunday evening.