- Wednesday, October 09, 2024
Gandhi said the Congress was looking into the results of Haryana assembly polls and approach the Election Commission about the complaints coming from many constituencies
By: Shajil Kumar
CONGRESS leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the party was analysing the “unexpected” results in Haryana and will apprise the Election Commission about complaints received from various constituencies of the state.
In his first reaction after the shock defeat in Haryana, the former Congress president also thanked the people of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir for their support.
“My heartfelt thanks to the people of Jammu and Kashmir – INDIA’s victory in the state is a victory of the Constitution, a victory of democratic self-respect,” he said.
The BJP on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress’ hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Gandhi said the Congress was looking into the results of Haryana assembly polls.
“We are analysing the unexpected results of Haryana. We will inform the Election Commission about the complaints coming from many assembly constituencies,” he said.
“Heartfelt thanks to all the people of Haryana for their support and to our ‘Babbar Sher’ workers for their tireless hard work,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.
“We will continue this fight for rights, for social and economic justice, for truth, and will keep raising your voice,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Congress must think hard: Omar
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah Wednesday said the Congress will have to introspect deep to find reasons for its defeat in Haryana.
The NC and Congress fought the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls as allies.
“I had already said we were only wasting our time with these exit polls. But no one would have thought that the exit polls would be so wrong. Had it been 20 in place of 18 or 22 in place of 20, (we could have understood). But what happened was that 30 became 60 and 60 became 30,” the NC leader told reporters here.
The exit polls had predicted a majority for the Congress in Haryana.
“The Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat,” Abdullah said.
“My job is to run the NC and help the alliance here, which I will,” he added.
The NC and Congress are set to form a government in J-K – the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
‘Ignoring regional parties led to defeat’
In an apparent jibe at the Congress after its Haryana poll rout, Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Wednesday said the attitude of not accommodating regional parties in places where they felt they were winning is leading to its electoral losses.
In a post on X, Gohakle, without naming any party, said arrogance, entitlement and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster.
“This attitude leads to electoral losses- if we feel we’re winning, we will not accommodate any regional party… But in states where we’re down, regional parties must accommodate us,” the TMC MP said.
“Arrogance, entitlement, and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster,” he said.
The remarks came a day after the BJP clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress’ hopes of a comeback.
Kejriwal faults Congress strategy
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had also questioned the Congress poll strategy.
The chairperson of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), which was keen on having an alliance with the Congress in Haryana, said on Tuesday that the biggest lesson from the recent round of elections was one should not be “overconfident”.
CPI General Secretary D Raja also said the Congress needs to introspect over the poll results in Haryana and take along all INDIA bloc partners in the upcoming polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
Saini meets prime minister
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday ahead of his likely swearing-in as the head of the BJP government in the state following the party’s remarkable win in the assembly polls.
The BJP had indicated during the elections that Saini, who replaced Manohar Lal Khattar in March and hails from the Other Backward Classes, will be its choice for the top post if it wins.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Saini credited PM Modi’s policies for the party’s success.
He said psephologists might have declared the Congress as the favourite to win the polls but he always insisted that people will put their trust in the BJP due to its government’s policies.
To a question about the Congress raising doubts on EVMs, he said the opposition party has been building up a storm of lies.
He said, “The credit of this big win goes to Modi who brought such schemes in last 10 years that benefitted the poor, farmers, youth and women. These helped all sections of the society. People love him, and hence the BJP is coming to power for a third time.”
Modi said on X that he congratulated Saini on the party’s historic win and expressed confidence that the role of Haryana will become more important in the resolve of building ‘viksit Bharat’.
However, eight out of 10 ministers under the Saini government faced defeat in the assembly polls.
Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta also lost from his Panchkula seat. (PTI)
