Four days after the Congress registered its worst defeat in the recently-concluded Gujarat Assembly elections, Congress’ general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, cited four reasons behind the debacle it faced in the state. The party ended up winning only 16 seats in the Gujarat Assembly, down from the 77 seats it won in the elections in 2017. Its vote share also shrank significantly from around 40 per cent to 27 per cent in 2022.
“There are many reasons behind the party’s defeat in Gujarat. Foremost among them is that we were up against an alliance of three parties — BJP, AAP and AIMIM. There was an unofficial alliance between these three parties,” Ramesh said at a press conference in Boondi district of Rajasthan on the sidelines of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The Rajya Sabha MP said that AAP and the AIMIM had entered the election with only one aim — to cut into the vote share of the Congress. “And they succeeded in it. Our vote percentage fell from 40 per cent to 27 per cent.”
Ramesh further alleged that all state government and central agencies had joined hands to “help” the BJP, a “factor” he cited as another reason behind the dismal performance of the Congress. “We lodged numerous complaints in this regard with the Election Commission but we were not heard,” Ramesh said.
Poll expenditure was another factor that Ramesh cited as a reason behind the party’s loss in Gujarat. According to Ramesh, the BJP spent 8-9 times more than Congress in the Gujarat elections. “The third reason is money power. As compared to us, BJP was spending eight to nine times more during election campaigning,” the Congress leader claimed.
Ramesh also admitted to organisational weaknesses and said the party lacked the aggression that it displayed in 2017. “There were shortcomings on the organisational level too. We were not as aggressive as we were in the last elections. It has come as a jolt to us,” he added.
The Congress, which registered its worst-ever performance in the state, may also lose the position of the Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly. As per the convention, a party can claim the LoP position only if it wins 10 per cent of the seats in the legislative assembly. Congress won 16 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, at least three less than the number of seats it needed to appoint an LoP in the state assembly.
Ramesh, however, said that too much attention was being given to Congress’ loss in Gujarat while the BJP’s debacle in the hill-state of Himachal Pradesh had gone largely unnoticed.
“The Prime Minister only talks about the Gujarat results so that he can deflect attention from the outcome in other states. PM addressed 10 rallies in Himachal… BJP’s national president (JP Nadda) is from Himachal … The Union Information and Broadcasting minister (Anurag Thakur) is from Himachal. But the PM only wants to talk about Gujarat, and not Himachal Pradesh where the BJP’s vote share shrunk by 5 per cent,” Ramesh said.
The BJP, on the other hand, registered a thumping victory in the elections, winning 156 seats in the 182-member assembly. This was the highest tally recorded by any party since the formation of the state. The previous highs recorded in Gujarat were 149 seats by Congress in 1985 and 122 seats by the BJP in 2002.