Divided Congress loses the plot

NEW DELHI: The story of Congress’ electoral decline continued today with the party finishing third behind AAP in the Delhi Municipal Council poll which the BJP swept. This was Congress’ fourth local body poll rout in the recent past, starting with Chandigarh in December 2016 and Maharashtra and Odisha this February.

Gurudas Kamat

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

The story of Congress’ electoral decline continued today with the party finishing third behind AAP in the Delhi Municipal Council poll which the BJP swept. This was Congress’ fourth local body poll rout in the recent past, starting with Chandigarh in December 2016 and Maharashtra and Odisha this February.

On the defensive, the Congress drew heart from what it described as a “significant” improvement in its vote share in Delhi from 9 per cent in the 2014 Assembly poll to 21 per cent today. The party used it to defend Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken who resigned today. Indications were that Maken’s resignation may not be accepted immediately.

“Ajay Maken has resigned but it is for the party to see what to do. Victory and loss are part of the game but Maken worked very hard,” Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said defending Maken whose conduct on the election eve triggered major defections to the BJP.

As trends flowed today, former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit came out against Maken to say she was not asked to campaign in Delhi. Her remarks were a reflection on Maken’s functioning — something that led to former state chief Arvinder Lovely and former Delhi MLA Barkha Singh join the BJP.

The Congress’ defence of Maken fitted a pattern as much as the pattern of factionalism grounding the party in every important election.

In Chandigarh MC elections, rivalries between BB Behl and Pawan Bansal cost the party heavily. In Brihanmumbai municipal polls, differences between Gurudas Kamat and Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam decimated the party. Odisha saw a similar story and now Delhi has played out the same script.

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