THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Trying to put on a brave face, Congress leaders in Kerala maintain that the severe drubbing the party faced in the assembly elections in the Hindi heartland will have no bearing on next year’s Lok Sabha elections in the state. And they pin their hopes on poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu, whose efforts were key to the party’s spectacular victory in Telangana, barely months after he pulled off a similar fete in Karnataka.
“There is no need for Congress in Kerala to be apprehensive. Unlike in the north Indian states, the BJP is weak here. Moreover, minority voters will support the party as they are fully aware that Congress alone can take on the BJP at the national level,” senior leader K Muraleedharan, MP, said.
Muraleedharan, who worked in tandem with Kanugolu as chairman of the screening committee for Congress candidates in Telangana, told TNIE, “The selection of candidates was crucial. It [The criteria for selection] was a mixture of party loyalty and pragmatism. We compromised on certain seats, 20 to be precise, to accommodate those who joined Congress from BJP and BRS.”
Shashi Tharoor, MP, who is gearing up for his fourth outing from Thiruvananthapuram, said the BJP’s winning streak in north Indian states would not have any major impact in Kerala. A senior Congress leader in Delhi said Madhya Pradesh party’s strongman Kamal Nath did not want Kanugolu to call the shots in the state which saw him and veteran Digvijaya Singh finalising the candidates. “And the party paid dearly for the lapse,” he said.
“They were eager to promote the interest of their sons Nakul Kamal Nath and Jaivardhan Singh,” the leader said. KPCC secretary John Vinatious said the party “has a lot to learn from the victory in Telangana and the defeat in Rajasthan.” The Rajasthan rout shows the importance of having a strong organisation, he said.
A weak structure prevented the party from cashing in on a slew of welfare schemes announced by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. This despite the two warring leaders, Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, burying their differences, albeit towards the fag end of the campaigning, said John, who is close to Pilot. Congress leaders in Kerala attribute the poll debacle in Chhattisgarh to overconfidence and corruption charges against Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
Poll debacle: Pinarayi hits out at Cong leadership
Palakkad: The Congress leadership has only itself to blame for the trouncing the party received in the assembly elections in key north Indian states, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday. “The Congress toed a soft Hindutva line to counter BJP’s extreme communal politics. In Madhya Pradesh, Congress was working as the saffron party’s ‘B’ team. Some Congress leaders were even spewing more hatred than the BJP. Moreover, when the situation warranted the unity of all forces opposed to the Sangh parivar, Congress attempted one-upmanship. Both the strategies backfired,” Pinarayi said, addressing the Nava Kerala Sadas at Chittur.
CPM loses two sitting seats in Rajasthan
T’Puram: As expected, the Left parties do not have anything to write home about on their performance in the assembly elections to four states. While the CPM lost its two sitting seats in Rajasthan, the CPI managed to win the lone seat it contested in Telangana. In Telangana’s Kothagudem seat, Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao of the CPI, backed by Congress, polled 80,336 votes to defeat Jalagam Venkat Rao of AIFB (53,789 votes). The CPM had contested independently in 12 seats in Telangana, but failed to open its account. In Rajasthan, the CPM lost its two sitting seats, Bhadra and Dungargarh. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the CPM contested in four and three seats, respectively, but lost.