What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Congress accepts its fate in three northeastern states; Admits need to strengthen party
Of the 179 seats in three northeastern states, whose results were declared on Thursday, March 2, Congress had managed to pocket eight. The party had won five in Meghalaya and three in Tripura, while drawing a blank in Nagaland.
It was far from their glory days when they virtually ruled the region, amid the rise of regional parties.
Acknowledging the dismal performance, Congress dubbed the result unfortunate. It also said that it would work to strengthen the party.
The party also admitted that its national-level leaders cannot swing the results in their favour if the organisation and candidate are not strong at the local level.
The Congress had forged an alliance with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Tripura and fielded candidates for 17 seats in the state. However, it managed to win three seats, while its alliance partner managed to win 11.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained power by winning 32 seats, while the amalgamation of the regional party Tipra Motha Party pocketed 13 seats in the 60-member assembly.
After the results, Congress general secretary and media in-charge Jairam Ramesh said, “In Tripura, we had expected that the Congress and the CPI-M would form the government. But the results are not expected on the line.”
“While we made several complaints to the Election Commission, we are not going back from the fact that we have lost in Tripura,” the senior Congress leader said while admitting that the alliance was expecting to win 32 to 33 seats in the state.
Virtually blaming the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for their dismal show in Meghalaya, Ramesh said, “In Meghalaya, our party was broken as 21 of our MLAs were taken away.”
“We fielded all 60 new candidates in Meghalaya, out of which 10 were women candidates and their average age is below 45. And we had projected these new faces in the hope that we were focusing on the future,” he said.
In a swipe at TMC, Ramesh, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said, “Parties who thought they would gain by breaking Congress could not manage to win more seats than Congress.”
“In Nagaland also, we didn’t get the desired results, but we expect that our vote share will go up,” Ramesh said about the state where they failed to open their account.
In a virtual acceptance of the party’s fate, Ramesh said, “We accept this result. We need to strengthen the party and need to promote the young faces as we did in Meghalaya and Nagaland.”
On being asked why Congress’ senior leadership neglected the party in campaigns, Ramesh said, “This is not a national election but a state election. And I don’t think that national-level leaders can swing the results with their campaigning. What matters is whether the organisation and the candidates are strong at the local level or not.”
The rout in the three northeastern states, following its heavy loss in Gujarat, once again highlighted the fact that there is little sign of revival for the party that has been in freefall since 2014.
