New Delhi: The Assembly results in Maharashtra and Haryana have isolated the Congress further. It wanted to check the NCP in Maharashtra, but instead, handed over the key state to the BJP on a platter.
The Congress could have stopped the BJP in Maharashtra by uniting secular parties. But, it did not, as the party thought that the anti-incumbency would work against the Sharad Pawar-led party and the split in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance would help it regain lost ground under the leadership of Mr Prithviraj Chavan. But, the grand old party miscalculated once again.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was leading the BJP’s election campaign from the front in these states without a credible face, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi failed to enthuse the rank and file of the party and failed to revive the killer instinct among them.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had checked the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the Assembly bypolls. But this spirit had been missing in the Congress in Maharashtra and Haryana as well, with a section of the party conceding that anti-incumbency (10 years in Haryana and 15 in Maharashtra) would certainly damage the Congress’ prospects.
