Sagar: At a time when the Opposition parties are issuing the message of contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly under the banner of 'INDIA', the feud between Congress leader Kamal Nath and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav apparently led to the grand old party's defeat in Madhya Pradesh's Bundelkhand region.
After being denied five seats in Madhya Pradesh, SP fielded candidates in 74 seats thereby disrupting the Congress vote share and changing its game in many important seats. Now, the existence of Congress has become weak in INDIA alliance and also hampered the alliance's preparations for the Lok Sabha polls.
A close look at Madhya Pradesh election results reveals that by ignoring its alliance partner and contesting the polls alone, Congress became weak in front of BJP's strategy and political games. On the other hand, the INDIA alliance members itself proved to be helpful for BJP.
Firstly, discussion was on to organise a programme in Bhopal to display the unity of the INDIA alliance in view of elections. It was felt that the Congress could benefit by such a programme but in the end Kamal Nath got it cancelled.
With SP being a member of the INDIA alliance, talks were on for a coalition between SP and Congress and it was learnt that Akhilesh demanded five seats from Congress. But, the conversation between Kamal Nath and Akhilesh deteriorated so much that it hit the headlines. Kamal Nath's statement, "Who is Akhilesh Vakhilesh" (Akhilesh and those like him) made the SP chief so angry he fielded candidates on 74 seats of Madhya Pradesh. These candidates ultimately led to sharing of votes thereby causing defeat for Congress.
In Bundelkhand, the number of Yadav voters is quite high and had there been an alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party, the performance of the grand old party would have surely been much better. Political analysts said that after being unhappy with Kamal Nath, Akhilesh made a strategy to teach him a lesson and fielded candidates in most of the seats of Bundelkhand as well as other areas of Madhya Pradesh.
In Chandla assembly constituency of Chhatarpur district, BJP defeated Congress by 15,491 votes while SP candidate managed to get 24,977 votes. In Rajnagar, the votes bagged by SP and the defeat margin of Congress are almost same as BJP defeated Congress by 5,867 votes and SP got 6,353 votes. In Niwari, Meera Yadav, wife of veteran SP leader Deep Narayan Singh Yadav got 32,670 votes while BJP defeated Congress by 17,157 votes.
In Bundelkhand, the number of Lodhi, Kurmi and Yadav voters among the OBC voters is very high. Keeping this in mind, Congress had made its former state president Arun Yadav in-charge of Bundelkhand. Arun Yadav toured the entire Bundelkhand region and worked to connect with the local leaders and workers of the Yadav community.
Due to his hardwork, a large number of Yadav voters backed the Congress and it seemed that more Yadav votes would go to Congress this time. But the controversy between Kamal Nath and Akhilesh spoiled all the hardwork and most Yadav votes shifted to SP. Even though Akhilesh did not get any benefit, it was the BJP who got an advantage from the situation.
The INDIA alliance needs to be strengthened afresh before the Lok Sabha elections. After Congress suffered a crushing defeat in five states, questions are being raised as to how strong and effective the INDIA alliance will be in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. If Congress performed better in any of these states then it would have been in a stronger position in the INDIA alliance but now it has gone to the back foot.
In order to make the INDIA alliance strong, all the parties will have to forget their differences and come together. Congress will have to bow down the most because of the recent crushing defeat in three states where it fought single-handedly.
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