New Delhi: It was a southern comfort for the Congress in the form of Telangana win but the outcomes in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh indicated that north India remained a challenge ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, a senior AICC functionary said on Sunday.
The historic Telangana win came months after the Congress wrested power in Karnataka from the BJP in May.
“Certainly, it is a huge southern comfort for the Congress. We shut the gates of South India for the BJP with the recent Karnataka win. The Telangana win has only cemented that factor. North India remains a challenge for us ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but we will overcome the BJP roadblock. We will work along with our INDIA allies who are strong regional players and find solutions to the north Indian challenge,” AICC in charge of Andhra Pradesh CD Meyyappan told this portal.
“When I travelled through parts of Telangana as an AICC Lok Sabha observer, I could sense a wave of support in favour of the Congress just like the one I had noticed in Karnataka,” he said. The AICC functionary said the grand old party would certainly gain from the impact of the Karnataka and Telangana victories in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
“Things would certainly improve for the party in Andhra Pradesh from hereon. The DMK-Congress alliance is in power in Tamil Nadu and is going strong. The CPI-M, an ally within the INDIA alliance, lead LDF which rules in Kerala. Hence, the BJP has little scope in south India where the five states together send 129 members to the Lok Sabha,” said Meyyappan.
According to the AICC functionary, the Congress would have to refine its political messaging and tools to become stronger in north India where bulk of the Lok Sabha seats come from.
“The Congress will have to refine its political communication in north India to counter the BJP’s propaganda. Our state governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh delivered on the social welfare agenda and promised to take it further in the manifestos. But it seems the voters expected more from us or there was some communication gap between the party and the people which made them believe the BJP promises instead,” said Meyyappan.
“As far as political tools are concerned, we have been learning and improvising over the past years. The party structures have become stronger and our social media strategies have sharpened. But we will have to review the poll outcomes in the three Hindi-speaking states and make suitable amends in our strategy. All this is doable and will be done over the coming weeks,” he said.
The AICC did not agree with the observation that Rahul Gandhi’s sharp focus on the Adani-Modi combine and caste census did not pay dividends in north India.
“People in the urban areas understand the nexus of Adani-Modi but not in the rural areas where the importance of caste census is easily communicated. I think the two issues are relevant and will continue to be so. The social welfare agenda is based on the Nyay scheme which we had flagged in the 2019 polls but somehow the voters could not understand its significance. That focus will continue as people continue to suffer from high price rise and unemployment,” said Meyyappan.
