House not in order, Congress has much to reflect upon

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, May 13

The Jalandhar bypoll result has given a clear message to the Congress that anti-incumbency against the party still exists and its House is not in order.

With party candidate Karamjit Kaur, widow of former MP Santokh Chaudhary, losing out to former Congress Jalandhar (West) MLA and AAP candidate Sushil Rinku by 58,691 votes, the poll debacle could trigger more defections or change in leadership in the run-up to the General Election. Though the party made every effort to put up a united front, AAP highlighted its anti-corruption tirade and dissension in the Congress. Senior Congress leaders admit that the choice of candidate could have been better as party activists and voters were not happy with Chaudhary’s family.

Party strategists claim that multiple factors like the division in SC votes among the SAD-BSP, the BJP and the Congress spelled doom for the Congress. While mazhbi voters largely voted for BJP candidate Inder Iqbal Atwal, SAD-BJP candidate Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi rode on the BSP vote bank among the Ravidasias. Both factors ate into Congress traditional vote bank, said leaders.

Leader of the Opposition Partap Bajwa said, “I thank all party workers for putting up a united show. We are introspecting the reasons behind the defeat. We will come back stronger in 2024 elections.”

Not discounting the division of votes and other external factors, a former PCC chief said the state leadership needed to go for course correction as the election revealed that though party leaders put up a united front, the party cadre at the ground level was still disenchanted with the party since the term of former CM Capt Amarinder Singh.

Though the party has maintained its status of being the opposition in the state, the Jalandhar seat, despite being a Congress bastion since 1999, did not help it. None of the party’s sitting MLAs in five Assembly segments – Adampur, Jalandhar Cantt, Jalandhar (North), Phillaur and Shahkot – could register a win.

These MLAs had won in the 2022 Assembly poll that otherwise saw the party’s worst poll debacle.

“Neither the Channi factor, campaign by Navjot Singh Sidhu, nor sympathy votes for the Congress candidate worked. Compared to AAP deploying huge resources to run a high-visibility campaign, the Congress was short of funds required to contest the election,” admitted a senior party leader.