Setback for Congress

The election results of the five states clearly reflect that the grand old party Congress' bad days that started with the worst-ever defeat in the last Lok Sabha two years back in 2014 are yet to over. Its political space is shrinking year by year since May 2014. The results for the five state assemblies are a great setback for the party. It has badly lost Assam and Kerala where it was ruling. These defeats also reflect that the Congress party did not think how to remove the mess set in its functioning in the last two years. These defeats of the Congress show that the party has no plan to retrieve its pre-imminent position in the country. If this shrinking trends continue for one or two more years, Congress party may be nowhere in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Congress lost power in Assam and Kerala. Congress had been ruling in Assam for the last 15 years. Anti-incumbency factor might have gone against it, but what the party did to neutralize it to win for the fourth consecutive time to create history. It has been the tradition in Kerala politics that after every five years, the govt. changes. As United Democratic Front led by Congress was ruling in the state for the last five years, Left Democratic Front LDF would rule for the coming five years with its victory in these assembly elections. In Assam, Congress has been badly defeated by the BJP. And for the first time, BJP would form the government in Assam. It would open a window for it in the north-eastern states as Karnataka did for it in the south. Except Assam, ruling BJP has not done anything spectacular in other states according to its national stature. It is through polarizing of votes that it won Assam. Chief Minister Mamta Bannerji has recorded spectacular victory for the second consecutive time in West Bengal. Her Trinamul Congresss pulverized Left-Congress coalition. She has emerged as one of the tallest regional leaders of the country. Despite allegation of corruption against her govt., her party has recorded massive victory. Mamta's TMC has won more number of seats in these assembly elections than what it had won in 2011. Though BJP has expanded its space in West Bengal, it is still at the fourth place. Mamta also showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the people of Bengal would not be carried away by his tall talks in the electioneering. In Tamil Nadu, AIADM supremo and Chief Minister Jayalaliththa got back to power for the second time in row by defeating the DMK-Congress alliance comfortably. The emergence of two women Mamta and Jaya as strong regional leaders clearly reflect that no national leader of any national party has guts to challenge them in their states Left is getting weaker and weaker with its position slipping to the third in West Bengal where it had ruled for 34 years. Mamta Bannerji has emerged as the lioness of Bengal. She has decimated the Left in the state. The time has come for the Congress to introspect that why once ruling all over India is finding dificult to retain power even in a few states. Except Karnataka, no big state of the nation is under its rule. The root cause of its continuing defeat is its organizational weakness. The party has no leader in the state who could lead it to victory. All leaders and workers are dependent on Party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi. But neither Sonia nor Rahul is a charishmatic leader like Pt. Nehru, Indiara Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress party organization in states has become so weak that it can not fight elections on its own in most of the politically important states. While it is a fact that Congress party sympathisers and followers can be found in every village of the country. Congress organizational set up from the village to state level need to be overhauled to retrieve party's pre-imminent position.

APP and Cong upbeat over MCD victory

Despite the ruling Aam Aadmi Party fighting Municipal by-elections for the first time, it kept its winning streak continuing, though not in the way it had recorded in the last assembly elections. AAP won five seats out of 13 MCD seats in which by - elections were held. Though MCD by-poll result is a setback for the ruling BJP, it has proved to be a great moral booster for the Congress party, which won 4 seats. BJP won only three seats. With five seats in MCD by-polls, the APP has anyhow maintained its top political rating in Delhi. But with the winning independent councillor joining Congrerss Party after victory, it raised its number to five too. Congress Party impressively improved its position in the MCD by-polls with more than 24 per cent of votes. Though BJP got many more percents of votes than APP and Congress, it won only 3 in terms of seats. BJP has been ruling at the Centre. It is also considered to be strong in Delhi. Despite that, its performance has not been up to mark. It is also a wake-up call for Narendra Modi-led NDA govt at the Centre that if it continued to pass time only by talking tall since it came to power, fall in its popularity graph is bound to set in. Delhi shows the mirror to all governments if they failed to deliver the promises made to the people. Two years of Narendra Modi govt. at the Centre is about to pass. It is going to complete its 2nd year in power on May 26, 2016. No perceptible change for betterment on the ground in any field is felt. Rather, the price rise shot up,industrial production fell, no new job created and economic slowed down. When stomach is empty, no one is prepared to listen to grandstanding speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So, MCD by poll result is a warning for the ruling BJP at the Centre to work and translate all programmes and policies into action on the ground. Though AAP has won five seats, its popularity graph is also falling. If it had maintained its massive victory spree of assembly elections, it would have won all the seats that went to by-polls. It is time for Congress to rejoice over its victory in MCD by-polls after being wiped out from the city in the last assembly elections. It has lot more to do to retrieve its pre-imminent position in Delhi, which it ruled for 15 years in a row. The youthful leadership of Ajay Maken in Delhi has helped the Congress party to revive. He also needs to have more activities to improve party's position. Municipal corporation is the smallest unit of administration in the city. As far as transparency and efficiency in MCD are concerned, BJP has ruled it in the worst way. The 13 wards, which went to the by-polls on Sunday are Quamruddin Nagar, Shalimar Bagh (North), Ballimaran, Nawada, Vikas Nagar, Matiala, Nanakpura, Munirka, Bhati, Tehkhand, Khichripur, Jhilmil and Wazirpur. The by-elections were necessitated as 13 Councillors got elected to the Delhi Assembly in 2015.