'Maha' defeat hits Congress's standing, INDIA bloc

New Delhi: The Congress-led MVA's massive defeat in the strategically key state of Maharashtra is not only another jolt to Congress' electoral record against the BJP after the Haryana loss, and thus its effort to be the pivot of anti-BJP national politics by building on from its sliver of hope in the general election, the setback also adds to the already volatile equations within the INDIA bloc, making it a task to ensure its future unity.

Although the JMM-led front's second consecutive victory in comparatively smaller Jharkhand makes it theoretically a '1-1' NDA-INDIA score, yet, the enormity of the Maharashtra defeat makes the JMM-led victory just a consolation prize for the Opposition, a fact advertised by the gloom at the Congress headquarters throughout the day even when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her anticipated first election victory from the safe seat of Wayanad by bettering her brother's 2024 majority mark.

The JMM-led front's impressive victory also shows, once again, how the Congress excels these days mostly in piggybacking on regional biggies rather than the other way around.


In the Congress leadership structure, guarded by nominated party office bearers, the Gandhi family will continue to enjoy the 'indoor comfort', but in the competitive electoral politics, the Maharashtra defeat once again raises questions about the effectiveness of the 'Gandhi-Vadra mystic' to electorally conquer and deliver (their much-touted 99 tally in the last Lok Sabha poll is still the third-lowest Congress tally in history, scored mostly against non-BJP parties). Priyanka, after Rahul, too opting for the safety of Wayand is seen even in the Congress circles as self-admission of this limitation.

Whither Rahul Tool Box
The campaign tone set by Rahul Gandhi both in Maharashtra and Jharkhand was, to even the local Congress functionaries, a typical case of a 'stuck record-player', now on the theme of "save Constitution" and "caste census", even though these state polls were fought mainly on incumbency issues, social re-engineering and strategic improvisations post-LS polls.

While the BJP and RSS reworked their campaign coordination, guarded against caste divisions through "batenge toh katenge" like slogans, wooed back OBCs by tapping their anger against Maratha quota agitation and played up social welfarist schemes like "Laadki Bahin", Rahul Gandhi, like la Rafale campaign in the past, struck to the 'Constitution" and "caste-census" themes.

In contrast, the Hemant Soren-led campaign in Jharkhand positioned the front's campaign on welfarist schemes, especially for women, and by cementing unity of tribals and whipping up sympathy for his arrest to beat back the BJP's "infiltrators" plank.

Rahul Gandhi campaigned for just five days in Maharashtra and four days in Jharkhand, but spared three days for Wayanad. The 'united Congress' of Maharashtra now stands as battered as the already broken Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP). AICC spokespersons indulged in their difficult occupational hazard by defending Gandhi's campaign approach and questioned the credibility of Maharashtra result while hailing victories in Jharkhand and Wayanad.

The Maharashtra poll also marked Gandhi and Udhav Thackeray's failure in marketing 'Adani' as an electoral plank by first coining "Adani & Modi ek hai toh safe hai" counter-slogan and then promising to evict the Adani project from Dharavi redevelopment plan besides attempting a Maharashtra-Gujarat divide. While the Congress-led Opposition will raise in Parliament the indictment of Adani in the US, whether the Maharashtra defeat will sap their energy and unity to sustain that agitation is being watched.

Bypoll Woes
The Congress show in the cluster of Assembly by-elections, too, showed it faring poorly against the BJP, and in comparison to INDIA bloc allies such as TMC and AAP. Barring winning all three seats in Karnataka and retaining a seat in MP, Congress' show in Rajasthan, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat was below par as Congress closes yet another electoral calendar year with little to cheer.