‘Unexpected’: Cong cries conspiracy after Maha loss
Putting up a brave front despite a dismal show in Maharashtra, the Congress on Saturday said it would not abandon issues such as the demands for a caste census, the alleged links between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and controversial tycoon Gautam Adani, price rise and Manipur crisis. These issues were raised by the party during the recent election campaign.
On the victory of the INDIA bloc in the Jharkhand Assembly, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera said the win was all more important because it signified a defeat of the BJP’s “polarising narrative”. “This narrative will be similarly defeated in other states as well,” Khera said.
Notably, the BJP had centred its campaign in Jharkhand on the alleged infiltration in the state by Bangladeshi Muslims.
The Congress said the defeat handed out to the BJP by the ruling JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand was also a blow to BJP’s “poster boy” Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam, and Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who spearheaded the saffron party’s campaign.
On the defeat in Maharashtra, Ramesh and Khera said the results were totally unexpected and smacked of a conspiracy. Ramesh said what was being touted as “micromanagement” by the BJP was nothing but ground-level manipulation by it.
They said unlike Maharashtra, where there was no “level-playing field”, the scene in Jharkhand was different and as a result the INDIA bloc could win in the state.
They alleged that the Election Commission had turned a blind eye despite the Congress submitting numerous complaints to it alleging malpractices by the party’s political opponents. Everyone, including the media, should take up the issue of electoral malpractices, Khera said, adding that for the BJP, the stake in Maharashtra was higher than any other state.
Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while thanking the people of Jharkhand for “giving a huge mandate to INDIA”, also expressed surprise at the MVA rout in Maharashtra.
Writing on X, Rahul said the win in Jharkhand was “a victory of the protection of water, forest and land along with the Constitution”. “The results of Maharashtra are unexpected and we will analyse them in detail,” he added.
