INDIA parties flex muscles after Cong rout in Haryana

After the Congress' shock defeat in Haryana, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties flexed their muscles on Wednesday, accusing the grand old party of ignoring them.

They said this attitude should not be repeated in the future polls.

The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray turned out to be the biggest critic of the Congress, accusing it of ignoring other parties that resulted in the poll debacle.

Leaders of the Trinamool Congress, the Aap Aadmi Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India and some other parties also blamed the Congress for working alone and not jointly, which led to the defeat in Haryana.

The Congress will be contesting the Maharashtra polls as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance and the Jharkhand elections in tie-up with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which is also a part of the INDIA bloc.

Several opposition leaders accused the Congress of banking on regional parties where it is weak but not forging alliances when they perceive they are strong in a state.

Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut said the Congress' 'over confidence' was responsible for its defeat in Haryana, alleging that it relies on allies only in regions where they are weak but ignores them in its stronghold areas.

"Wherever the Congress is weak, it takes help from the regional parties. But where it thinks it is strong, the Congress attaches no importance to the regional parties," Raut said.

"We could win in Jammu and Kashmir because the INDIA bloc was fighting there under the leadership of Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah. In Haryana, the INDIA bloc did not fight together because the Congress thought they could win on their own. Hooda ji is our friend, he thought he could win on his own," he said.

He said parties like the Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party or even his own party Shiv Sena-UBT could have fought a few seats in Haryana and that would have made a difference.

The MVA allies should declare a chief ministerial face for the upcoming contest, he added.

Shiv Sena-UBT Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also pointed out that it was a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, and that the Congress needs to introspect over its loss.

"The Congress has to introspect. There was a direct contest with the BJP. Where did they all fall short? I am sure they will analyse that.

She said with Haryana polls getting over, the seat-sharing strategy for the upcoming elections in Maharashtra should be done and concluded as soon as possible.

"Winning Maharashtra and Jharkhand is as much a responsibility of the Congress as the regional parties in the state.

A senior leader of the TMC who did not want to be named spoke on similar lines, saying the Congress lost again when it was a straight fight with the BJP and the regional parties do much better in defeating the BJP.

The TMC is a part of the INDIA bloc but had fought the Lok Sabha polls alone in West Bengal after a deal could not be struck with the Congress, which fought in alliance with the Left parties.

The TMC leader said the Congress reached out to the INDIA parties after facing losses in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Parties like Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar and JMM must not be treated badly in the upcoming polls, he added.

In an apparent jibe at the Congress without naming it, TMC MP Saket Gokhale, in a post on X, said the attitude of not accommodating regional parties in places where they felt they were winning is leading to electoral losses.

"This attitude leads to electoral losses -- if we feel we're winning, we will not accommodate any regional party... But in states where we're down, regional parties must accommodate us," the TMC MP said.

"Arrogance, entitlement and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster," he said.

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah also said the Congress will have to introspect deeply to find reasons for its defeat in Haryana, where the BJP is set to return for a third consecutive term.

The NC and the Congress fought the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls as allies.

"The Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat," Abdullah said.

AAP, which was keen on having an electoral alliance in Haryana with the Congress but was turned down, meanwhile reiterated that it will go solo in Delhi assembly polls next year.

"In Delhi, AAP will contest alone. We are capable of fighting the overconfident Congress and arrogant BJP alone," AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said.

She blamed the Congress for not taking alliance partners seriously in Haryana and ultimately facing a rout due to its overconfidence.

"The Congress has had zero seats in the Delhi assembly for the past 10 years, yet AAP gave Congress three seats in the Lok Sabha polls; still they did not feel necessary to take allies along in Haryana," she said.

On Tuesday, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had said the biggest lesson from the recent round of elections was one should not be 'overconfident'.

The CPI-M said the results in both Haryana and J&K are a lesson for the secular forces rallying against the BJP.

"The contrasting results thrown up by Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana state elections, the resounding success in Jammu & Kashmir and the unexpected setback in the latter provide valuable lessons for secular forces in the struggle against BJP in the days to come," the CPI-M said.

"In Haryana, the BJP managed to secure a majority of seats in a close fight with the Congress, but with a narrow margin of 0.6 per cent vote share over Congress. Its success is marked by micro-caste mobilization and insidious communal propaganda. The Congress will have to introspect as to the other factors responsible for this verdict," they said.

CPI general secretary D Raja said the Congress should do serious introspection over the poll results in Haryana and take along all INDIA bloc partners in the upcoming polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

"The Congress party will have to do serious introspection. It has to do some self-critical assessment of its own strategy and tactics," he said.

"The INDIA bloc parties should work with mutual trust in each other, and mutual accommodation in time of seat sharing. This did not happen in Haryana," he said.