Congress on revival course in Punjab

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, June 4

In December last year, the Punjab Congress leadership had its ears to the ground when it rejected an alliance with AAP in Punjab citing political vendetta, despite both parties being part of the INDIA bloc.

Six months down the line, the political intuition of the Punjab Congress leadership has proved accurate as the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections have set the tone for the revival of the party that suffered its worst drubbing in the 2022 Assembly elections. But these celebrations have also brought a sense of solemnity to the faces of Punjab leaders as the state unit, in the wake of their victory, is likely to witness a battle for supremacy.

The party has been able to demolish the citadel of the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Gurdaspur and Ferozepur, respectively. In Ferozepur, the party ended the 40-year spell of SAD dominance; and in Gurdaspur, it ended the BJP’s 26-year spell, barring one term of Partap Singh Bajwa in 2009.

Despite winning an impressive seven seats out of 13, the Congress vote share has dipped to 26.30 per cent, the lowest since 2009, when it got 40.12 per cent votes to win eight seats in a largely direct fight with the SAD-BJP alliance.

In 2014, the party got 33.10 per cent vote share, but could win only three seats in a triangular contest between the Congress, SAD-BJP alliance and AAP. In 2019, the party won eight seats by getting 34.17 per cent votes.

Factors that worked for it

• The anti-BJP sentiment among farmers that (directly or indirectly) constitute 22 per cent vote share
• Anti-incumbency against the ruling AAP government
• The Congress promise of giving Rs 1 lakh annually to poor women
• Party leaders joining hands to mobilise the cadres

The anti-BJP sentiment among farmers that (directly or indirectly) constitute 22 per cent vote share, long with anti-incumbency against the ruling AAP government as well as the Congress offering Rs 1 lakh annually to poor women seem to have worked in favour of the grand old party — besides, of course, party leaders joining hands to mobilise the cadres.

Analysing the dip in vote share despite getting seven seats, party strategists point out that the Congress and AAP share the same vote bank. Contesting separately has helped AAP, but the vote share of the Congress has gone down due to multi-corned contests.

Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa feels the Congress has bounced back in the run-up to the next Assembly elections. “Only the Congress can counter the BJP in Punjab. Winning eight seats in the 2019 parliament elections, when Capt Amarinder Singh was in the driver’s seat, to now winning seven seats, when the party is positioned as the principal opposition in the Assembly, is a big achievement. Despite being in power, AAP could get only three seats. More setbacks for AAP are in the offing,” he said.