NEW DELHI: The Congress has formally announced the end of its uneasy and unsuccessful alliance with Arvind Kejriwal‘s Aam Aadmi Party. The two parties, which had joined hands for Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and Goa as part of opposition’s INDIA bloc, will now faceoff as rivals in upcoming assembly elections.
“There does not appear to be much scope for an alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the assembly polls in Haryana and Delhi but the INDIA bloc will fight elections together in Maharashtra and Jharkhand,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.AAP had already announced a month back that it will not extend its alliance with the grand old party in the assembly elections.
Haryana faceoff
The first fallout of this political separation will be felt in Haryana, which goes to polls later this year. The Congress fancies its chances in the state elections after an impressive performance in the Lok Sabha polls. The grand old party, which could not open its account in 2019, won five out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state with a vote share of 43.67%. The Congress managed to severely dent the BJP, which could win only 5 seats – half of its 2019 tally, despite a change in state leadership and a higher voteshare of 46.1%. Kejriwal’s AAP, with 3.94% of voteshare, was a distant third in the state in the national elections.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the Congress had put up an impressive show winning 31 out of 90 seats with a vote share of 28.08%. This was more than double its 2014 tally of 15 assembly seats. The BJP, on the other hand, could not manage to win majority on its own and managed only 40 assembly seats with a vote share of 36.49%. In 2014 assembly elections, the BJP had won 47 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party could not win any seat in 2019 and managed only .48% of vote share in the state.
The Congress, which has seen its performace improve in the state since the last assembly elections, is perhaps confident of further gains and does not want to accommodate Kejriwal’s party. Aam Aadmi Party’s Haryana unit has already drawn a 90-day roadmap for an aggressive promotion of party’s achievements in Punjab and Delhi in all the 90 constituencies of the state. The BJP, on the other hand, will hope that a divided opposition will help it regain some lost ground in the upcoming assembly elections.
Failed experiment
The short-lived Congress-AAP alliance failed to make any impact in Lok Sabha elections. In Delhi, the two parties could not even open their account. They failed to prevent third consecutive clean sweep by the BJP which won all the 7 seats in the national capital. The Congress went ahead with the alliance despite a very strong opposition from its state leaders and in the process even lost some of them to the BJP. In other states also where the two parties contested together there was not much of gains. On the contrary, in Punjab, where the two parties decided to contest as rivals, Congress won 7 seats out of 13 and the AAP managed 3. This despite the fact that AAP has a government in Punjab and its chief minister Bhagwant Mann had all along claimed that it will sweep out the Congress in the state.
First Mamata, now Kejriwal
For the Congress, strong regional leaders present both an opportunity and also a challenge. In Lok Sabha elections, the Congress successfully aligned with the likes of Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu, Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar and Hemant Soren in Jharkhand. However, the grand old party failed to join hands with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. In fact, the two parties engaged in open war of words through the elections. Mamata fought the elections alone and defeated not just the BJP but also decimated the Congress. Kejriwal will be second key leader of INDIA bloc with whom the Congress has now refused to stich an alliance. Both Congress and AAP, which has gained the status of a national party, have high stakes in assembly elections and feel going solo will be more beneficial for them.
No pan-India formula for INDIA bloc
The Congress today made it clear that alliances in states under the INDIA banner would be on a case-to-case basis and there will be no one formula for tie-up. Where state Congress leaders and the respective alliance parties agree, there will be an alliance, the grand old party said outlining the principle for future tie-ups. “In states where the circumstances are such that our leaders of the state and leaders of our alliance partners want, the alliance will remain. In Maharashtra, the alliance will be there with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP). In Jharkhand, we have an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,” Jairam Ramesh said.
United at Centre, divided in states
The internal contradictions of the INDIA bloc are already in display in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab – where Congress is a political rival of its national alliance partners. All these states have seen the INDIA bloc partners attack and target each other – giving fodder to the BJP which has all-along called the INDIA bloc an opportunistic alliance.
“There does not appear to be much scope for an alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the assembly polls in Haryana and Delhi but the INDIA bloc will fight elections together in Maharashtra and Jharkhand,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.AAP had already announced a month back that it will not extend its alliance with the grand old party in the assembly elections.
Haryana faceoff
The first fallout of this political separation will be felt in Haryana, which goes to polls later this year. The Congress fancies its chances in the state elections after an impressive performance in the Lok Sabha polls. The grand old party, which could not open its account in 2019, won five out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state with a vote share of 43.67%. The Congress managed to severely dent the BJP, which could win only 5 seats – half of its 2019 tally, despite a change in state leadership and a higher voteshare of 46.1%. Kejriwal’s AAP, with 3.94% of voteshare, was a distant third in the state in the national elections.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the Congress had put up an impressive show winning 31 out of 90 seats with a vote share of 28.08%. This was more than double its 2014 tally of 15 assembly seats. The BJP, on the other hand, could not manage to win majority on its own and managed only 40 assembly seats with a vote share of 36.49%. In 2014 assembly elections, the BJP had won 47 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party could not win any seat in 2019 and managed only .48% of vote share in the state.
The Congress, which has seen its performace improve in the state since the last assembly elections, is perhaps confident of further gains and does not want to accommodate Kejriwal’s party. Aam Aadmi Party’s Haryana unit has already drawn a 90-day roadmap for an aggressive promotion of party’s achievements in Punjab and Delhi in all the 90 constituencies of the state. The BJP, on the other hand, will hope that a divided opposition will help it regain some lost ground in the upcoming assembly elections.
Failed experiment
The short-lived Congress-AAP alliance failed to make any impact in Lok Sabha elections. In Delhi, the two parties could not even open their account. They failed to prevent third consecutive clean sweep by the BJP which won all the 7 seats in the national capital. The Congress went ahead with the alliance despite a very strong opposition from its state leaders and in the process even lost some of them to the BJP. In other states also where the two parties contested together there was not much of gains. On the contrary, in Punjab, where the two parties decided to contest as rivals, Congress won 7 seats out of 13 and the AAP managed 3. This despite the fact that AAP has a government in Punjab and its chief minister Bhagwant Mann had all along claimed that it will sweep out the Congress in the state.
First Mamata, now Kejriwal
For the Congress, strong regional leaders present both an opportunity and also a challenge. In Lok Sabha elections, the Congress successfully aligned with the likes of Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu, Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar and Hemant Soren in Jharkhand. However, the grand old party failed to join hands with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. In fact, the two parties engaged in open war of words through the elections. Mamata fought the elections alone and defeated not just the BJP but also decimated the Congress. Kejriwal will be second key leader of INDIA bloc with whom the Congress has now refused to stich an alliance. Both Congress and AAP, which has gained the status of a national party, have high stakes in assembly elections and feel going solo will be more beneficial for them.
No pan-India formula for INDIA bloc
The Congress today made it clear that alliances in states under the INDIA banner would be on a case-to-case basis and there will be no one formula for tie-up. Where state Congress leaders and the respective alliance parties agree, there will be an alliance, the grand old party said outlining the principle for future tie-ups. “In states where the circumstances are such that our leaders of the state and leaders of our alliance partners want, the alliance will remain. In Maharashtra, the alliance will be there with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP). In Jharkhand, we have an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,” Jairam Ramesh said.
United at Centre, divided in states
The internal contradictions of the INDIA bloc are already in display in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab – where Congress is a political rival of its national alliance partners. All these states have seen the INDIA bloc partners attack and target each other – giving fodder to the BJP which has all-along called the INDIA bloc an opportunistic alliance.
