Congress leadership will have to do a serious rethinking of strategy if it wants to revive itself in the state.
The Modi wave has faded a long time ago but the Congress is yet to regain the confidence of voters in Maharashtra. Congress which had suffered its worst defeat in the Lok Sabha election by winning only 44 seats has tough task ahead to recover the lost ground. After the general election the party has lost every election held in the state. The party has only managed to win 10 seats in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation and Aurangabad Municipal Corporation election. It failed to open its account in Badlapar and won 8 seats in Ambarnath civic polls. Narayan Rane’s defeat in the Bandra by-polls has been another setback for the outfit. Congress’s party’s traditional vote bank known as Muslim and Dalits has distanced themselves from the party.
According to sources, “Minorities have deserted the party and have started supporting the AIMIM which is slowly building its base in the state by portraying itself as a party which champions the cause of Muslims and Dalits. The AIMIM which had forged an alliance with Dalit parties had won 26 seats in Aurangabad and stood 2nd in the tally. The party had already made its debut in Maharashtra by winning 2 seats in the assembly election.”
Thus the Congress leadership will have to do a serious rethinking of strategy if it wants to revive itself in the state. The Congress party’s performance has been dismal in the two metropolitan municipal elections and seven municipality elections.
The series of defeats which began for the Congress from the Lok Sabha election has been continuing even after a year. Thus voters’ perception about the Congress remains unchanged as they still consider it as a party which indulges in corruption and scams. Earlier the Muslims and Dalits used to vote for the party in large numbers which enabled them to come up with an impressive performance in election. But now the scenario has changed as these voters have deserted the party. The Muslims are unhappy with the Congress as the party has been considering them as votebank. The party has failed to fulfil the promises made by it to Muslims. The emergence of AIMIM too has weakened the Congress party’s poll prospects. The spilt of minority votes has cost the outfit dearly in these elections.
“There is a vacuum in the Muslim leadership. The Congress has failed the Muslims, who feel no one stands up for them, and are hence looking to the AIMIM,” said a senior Dalit leader.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President, Ashok Chavan said, “We have failed to win the confidence of voters. The minorities have distanced themselves from us which is a huge concern for us. We will have to work hard to woo them back. The people are unhappy with the performance of Modi government which has failed to fulfil the promises made by it. However, things are going to change as Congress will bounce back in future.”
