Ex-congressmen shines as CM while party fading in states

The results of the recently held Assembly polls has shown that Congress is fading out in various states. But in an interesting development, 3 out of these 5 states are now being led by those leaders who were once a member of Congress party. So, has Congress made a terrible mistake to let them go? Ex-Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha expresses his views on this with Niyamika singh, ETV Bharat reporter.

New Delhi: The recently held Assembly Elections has proved that Congress needs serious introspection as it is losing its stronghold in various states. But one point which must be focussed upon is that out of the 5 poll-bound states, 3 of them got their Chief Ministers who were once a part of the Congress party.

While speaking over the matter, Ex-Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said, "Now that the elections are over, look at a very uncanny strange development. Hemant Biswa Sarma in Assam, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and N Rangaswamy in Puducherry, they all are former Congress leaders."

Sarma left the Congress party before the 2014 General Elections. The reason behind it was his differences with the senior Congress leader and former CM Tarun Gogoi. He later joined BJP, which recognized his influence in the northeastern state and decided to keep him as the CM face for Assam.

But this is not all. The 2 other north-eastern states including Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur are now being led by Pema Khandu and N Biren Singh, respectively, who are ex-congressmen. Also, Andhra Pradesh's CM Jagan Mohan Reddy chose to quit Congress when the party didn't appoint him CM after his father's death in a helicopter crash.

"They were prominent, they are hugely successful today but the Congress made a terrible mistake of letting them go. We did not respond to their political ambitions and instead of listening to them, we were quite okay when they left. The consequences are there for us to see," Sanjay Jha asserted.

He further said, "Add to this, we have a couple of former Congress leaders who are Chief Ministers today in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The story of the Congress party is gradual disintegration, largely on account of the fact that it thought it never had opposition, but the more fundamental flaw and political arrogance."

Even the Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi also observed this trend and tweeted, "There will now be 3 BJP ruled states in North-East where Chief Minister is a former Congressman viz- Assam: Himanta Biswa, Arunachal: Prema Khandu, Manipur: N Biren Singh."

The majority of those who left Congress have alleged that the party does not respect their opinions. Before leaving the grand old party, Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed his grievances against then Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath. He had asked Rahul Gandhi for a change of guard in the state but he didn't get any proper response, which later made him to join BJP. As a result, Congress Government falls in MP.

It is now being expected that Congress may realize its faults as a task force is being set up by the party to analyze its performance in the Assembly elections. On Monday, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has also asserted during the Congress Working Committee meeting that there is a need to put the house in order. "We have to take note of our serious setbacks. To say that we are deeply disappointed is to make an understatement. If we do not face reality, we won't draw right lessons," the Congress chief said in her statement.