AA Edit | Cong faces flak; INDIA in trouble

It’s back to square one at the INDIA bloc. The alliance partners did not wait for a day to point fingers at the Congress for the loss in Haryana and asking it to reflect on its strategies, including the relationship with them. They have noticed allegations have been running thick and fast that the grand old party messed up the election the way only it can do. It all started with factionalism between two prominent leaders which was not addressed by the party leadership in Delhi, accentuated by cronyism in the distribution of tickets in which even the central leaders are under the shadow of suspicion; overconfident electioneering creamed it all.

The alliance partners have not missed the new energy the Haryana poll result has injected into the BJP either as it faces crucial elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar and Delhi. It may be noted that it will be the INDIA alliance partners which will be taking on the BJP in these states, with the Congress playing second fiddle. So, the Congress loss in Haryana will have a cascading effect on each of them in their own fiefdom. And hence the hardtalk.

The Congress always credits its victories to the Gandhi clan but the failures are someone else’s child, and hence the blame on electronic voting machines now.

The party with neatly one-and-a-half century of history must update itself to current, strategise accordingly and act as per the script, instead of coming up laughable excuses.

The Congress should have recognised the fact long ago that it has been fighting an opponent which has made booth-level planning the building block of its overall electoral strategy and that it battles to win booth by booth and seat by seat. Looking for reasons elsewhere after electoral losses will one day force the alliance parties to doubt the ability of the Congress to be realistic and such a realisation, should it happen, will put paid to what is known as INDIA alliance. Hence, it is time for the Congress to be realistic, and act accordingly.