'If Congress revives, regional parties fear losing vote banks'

Party insiders said they have taken note of the angry responses from regional allies like Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar and Jharkhand as well as former Karnataka partner Janata Dal-Secular to the Congress’ efforts to revive itself nationally, reports ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri

New Delhi:The Congress on Tuesday said that regional parties were getting anxious as they fear losing their vote banks if the grand old party revives. “The regional parties fear that if the Congress becomes stronger and revives nationally, they will lose their vote banks. Our main focus is on reviving the party nationally ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls come what may,” a senior Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.

Party insiders said they have taken note of the angry responses from regional allies like Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar and Jharkhand as well as former Karnataka partner Janata Dal-Secular to the Congress’ efforts to revive itself nationally.

“TheBharat Jodoyatra is our party programme. It is not about a joint effort with our allies. Any joint programmes or even seat-sharing will be taken up later depending upon the situation. First, we have to focus on our party,” senior Delhi Congress leader JP Agarwal told ETV Bharat while responding to the allies.

Listing the benefits of the proposed yatra, Agarwal said it would make every worker and leader involved. “It is natural that we will mobilise and charge up our workers,” he said. Making a comparison, a senior AICC functionary said that while RJD was still in a position to take on the BJP in Bihar, the JD-S was simply not up to the challenge in Karnataka. The SP had acquired a position similar to that of RJD in Bihar but it was unlikely that the former would have any truck with the Congress in UP.

Old-timers recalled how the Congress shrunk in UP and Bihar even as the BSP, SP and RJD grew on the grand old party’s traditional SC, ST, OBC, and minorities vote bank. The proposed Kashmir to Kanyakumari foot-march, said party insiders, is aimed at resetting the grand old party but is, in the process, upsetting the regional players.

On Monday, Congress’ present ally Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar and Jharkhand as well as former partner Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka had reacted strongly to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that the grand old party alone was able to defeat the BJP ideologically and not the regional parties. Later, party MP Shashi Tharoor had tried to explain Rahul’s remarks saying it meant only the Congress had a national vision as compared to the regional parties.

Tharoor also pointed out that essentially, the regional parties like RJD, JD-S, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party all shared the same ideology as the Congress but represented different regional characters.