The outgoing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot listed communal polarisation as one of the key reasons for Congress’s defeat in Rajasthan in the recent Assembly election, at a meeting to review the reasons for party’s debacle presided over by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge held in party headquarters in Delhi.
According to the sources, though, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi who was present among other senior leaders, said that there were deeper systemic issues and the blame should not be pinned on just one factor. He argued that, though the Rajasthan government came up with a robust welfare programme, it left the implementation to bureaucrats. The political leadership took over the reins too late in the day.
Party’s general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, AICC Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjunder Singh Randhawa and other senior State leaders including State president Govind Singh Dotasra, former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, Speaker C.P. Joshi, former Union Minister Jitendra Singh were present at the meeting.
Also Read | Why the Congress lost Rajasthan
There was a unanimous view that the party should have heeded to reports of anti-incumbency against the sitting legislators, instead 88% of the sitting MLAs were repeated.
No resignations were offered. Mr. Gandhi, according to sources, also expressed disappointment that no attempt was made to reach beyond the Congress’s existing vote bank. The campaign, he said, can’t be limited to putting up posters and speeches.
Fighting polls
AICC Rajasthan in-charge Mr. Randhawa told presspersons after the meeting that the “in-depth discussion” had dealt with the shortcomings responsible for the party’s defeat, which would be addressed, and decided to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections unitedly.
“Our vote share was a little less than the BJP and it also improved by 0.44% from the last time. Several Congress candidates lost by a narrow margin [of votes]. The performance in Rajasthan was better than other States,” Mr. Randhawa said, adding that the party would look into why it was left behind. Mr. Randhawa also said that accountability would be fixed soon for the party’s loss.
Mr. Randhawa said the block and booth level party workers and district unit presidents had worked hard during the election and the party would approach the people with its vision for the Lok Sabha polls.
Also Read: Rajasthan Assembly election results | Gujjar disenchantment costs the Congress dearly
Asked about his offer to resign as the State in-charge, Mr. Randhawa said he had told the party leadership that he was willing to serve in this capacity only till the election, as he had to concentrate in Punjab as well. He said the number of seats won in Rajasthan was “quite significant”.
Earlier, Mr. Gehlot told presspersons after his arrival in New Delhi that the BJP had resorted to “lies, deceit and polarisation” to win the Assembly election in Rajasthan. “The BJP brought in religious issues to provoke and mislead the people because it had nothing to say on the State’s issues and on our outstanding schemes in health, education, social security and public welfare,” he said.
Taking a dig at the BJP’s delay in appointing the new Chief Minister, Mr. Gehlot said he had signed a letter with the recommendation to the Centre to transfer the probe into Rajput leader Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi’s murder to the NIA because of the absence of the Chief Minister. “Even after six days since the election results were announced, they have not been able to find the CMs in three States,” he said.
