Anti-incumbency of MLAs hit us but no Modi magic in Rajasthan, says Congress

According to Congress insiders, public anger against the Congress MLAs played a role in the electoral loss. Senior AICC leaders say that wherever Congress changed the sitting MLAs, the result was good. "For instance, we changed sitting MLAs in Anupgarh, Suratgarh and Raisinghnagar and we won. We could not change the sitting MLAs in Sadulshahar for some reasons and we lost the seat,” a senior AICC leader said. Reports ETV Bharat Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday put its chin up saying the Rajasthan assembly results were “not so bad” and claimed that there was no “Modi magic” behind the BJP’s win.

“It is not a happy day for us but the result is not so bad after all. The anti-incumbency seems to have worked against us. But I have observed that there was no Modi factor in the state polls,” AICC secretary in charge of Rajasthan Qazi Nizamuddin told ETV Bharat. The AICC functionary cited a few instances to prove his point.

“The Congress candidate in the Ilibanga reserved seat in Hanumangarh district Vinod Gothwal had lost by 278 votes in 2018 but he won this time by over 50,000 votes. PM Modi had campaigned in the area but his magic did not work. Similarly, in Nagaur seat, PM Modi campaigned for the much-hyped BJP candidate Jyoti Mirdha but she lost. Jyoti Mirdha left the Congress to join the BJP just before the polls. Again, no Modi magic worked here. There are several other examples,” said Qazi.

According to Congress insiders, public anger against the Congress MLAs played a role in the electoral loss. “Wherever we changed the sitting MLAs the result was good. For instance, we changed sitting MLAs in Anupgarh, Suratgarh and Raisinghnagar and we won. We could not change the sitting MLAs in Sadulshahar for some reasons and we lost the seat,” said a senior AICC leader.

The party insiders said the Screening Committee headed by Gaurav Gogoi had suggested the replacement of at least half of the 99 sitting MLAs but many of them were accommodated due to the influence of Gehlot and also because they could not be changed at the eleventh hour. The Congress had formed a government in 2018 but had lost the 2013 polls badly winning just 21 of the total 200 assembly seats. The BJP had won 163 seats.

On Sunday, the BJP reached 115 seats and the Congress 69 seats, down from 99 seats in 2018. “It is not a good result but we have done extremely well in Rajasthan. Every time the Congress used to reach 30-35 seats in a turnaround but we reached around 70 this time. The policies of the party were accepted by the people,” AICC secretary Abhishek Dutt who was part of the Screening Committee to select Rajasthan candidates told this channel.

According to party insiders, the frequent public spats between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot over the past five years did the party in besides the communication gap between the party workers. “The Gehlot-Pilot feud hurt the party over the past five years. The high command intervened and worked out a truce before the elections but the damage had been done. We lost around 20-25 seats as a result of the Gehlot-Pilot tussle. Besides, party workers were neglected by the state government and there was anti-incumbency against half of the MLAs,” a senior AICC functionary said.

The Congress strategists had been working hard to reverse the revolving door tradition in Rajasthan where governments changed every five years over the past three decades but were not successful. “The party put up a strong fight. Gehlot led an aggressive campaign and worked round the clock to ensure a win. His welfare schemes were welcomed by the people and the seven guarantees were publicized widely. It seems the voters had more expectations and were carried over by the BJP’s propaganda,” said Qazi.