With the latest setback, the political footprint of Congress in India has been further reduced with the great old party now in power alone in three states: Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
In addition to these three, the Congress is part of the ruling alliance with Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra and JMM in Jharkhand. However, the party is the junior partner in both states.
Barring a brief respite last week with a decisive victory in the urban local body elections in Punjab, Congress has been grappling with the challenge of electoral decline for a long time.
Following the debacle of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the electoral destiny of Congress has seen little change. The party lost power in Madhya Pradesh last year after its staunch leader Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to the Bjp.
In Delhi, Congress scored a void with 67 of the 70 contestants losing their deposits. While in Bihar, he was blamed for bringing down the RJD, as part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
Last year, a rebellion in Rajasthan by former Deputy Minister Sachin Pilot almost pushed the state government led by Ashok Gehlot to the brink, but at the last minute the CM’s strategy that prevented a possible revolt and saved his government.
In addition, the party has also faced internal disputes since several top leaders wrote a letter to the leaders demanding organizational reform.
The group of 23 leaders, including veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, have been warning Congress Speaker Sonia Gandhi against the status quo since August last year, but to no avail.
Party leadership remains fluid, with Sonia mostly ill and distant and Rahul Gandhi still reluctant to take over as party chief and lead from the front.
Rumors within the state unit of Congress in Rajasthan continue with Pilot and Gehlot still at odds and are often said to be working for opposite purposes in a show of superiority.
The loss in Puducherry also comes at a crucial time, as assembly elections line up in five key states in April-May this year.
Beaten and demoralized, Congress is now hoping for some breakthroughs in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala, seeking to expand its base, but the target seems too high to achieve.
Even in Kerala this time, Congress faces a difficult road ahead despite the tendencies of alternate governments there.
E Sreedharan’s entry on the BJP side has further excited the tone of the Kerala poll.
Congress hopes to make a comeback at Puducherry, where it has traditionally been strong, but the numbers are not stacking in its favor.
However, a spate of resignations from the MLA in Congress has undermined party morale on the eve of elections with Tamil Nadu the only winning bet, courtesy of DMK.
Members of Congress blame the weakening of the high command and the inability of the Gandhis to attract votes behind the continued slippage of the party.
The aggressive push by the BJP in all the above states, coupled with AIMIM’s entry into Bengal, will challenge the prospects of the left of Congress in the eastern state, while Assam will remain a difficult battlefield in the presence of the acting BJP, which is committed to multiple launches of development projects. by the PM there.
Unstable political history
Meanwhile, the fall of V Narayanasamy Congressional government Monday marked another chapter in the not-so-checkered political history of the Union Territory.
Elected dispensations in the UT have decreased many times, either due to floor crossings or due to struggles between the parties that constitute coalition governments.
In the present case, Narayanasamy resigned before the vote of confidence in the assembly with the coalition ministry reduced to a minority due to a series of resignations from the party’s MLAs and a legislator from DMK recently.
Endemic political instability was almost a rule in Puducherry rather than an exception, and there have been cases of ministries falling like a deck of cards over the past nearly five decades.
Only four governments had completed their full term, while six, including the dispensation led by Naryanasamy, had failed to complete their term.
However, the enforcement of the anti-desertion law put an end to the floor crossings in this former French colony, although there was a wandering case of desertion of three AIADMK members to DMK in the opposition bloc in 1985 who were disqualified.
Puducherry had governments for a full five-year period only in 1985 (congressional government under Farook’s leadership), 1991 (congressional ministry headed by V Vaithilingam, current member of Lok Sabha), 2001 (congressional government headed by N Rangasamy , now AINRC leader) and 2011 (AINRC government led by Rangasamy).
The governments that fell without completing the mandate were the one formed by the DMK-CPI coalition (1969), AIADMK (1974 and 1977), DMK-Congress (1980), DMK-Janata Dal (1990) and now the Congress led by Narayanasamy- DMK. coalition.
The Union Territory Government Law of 1963 provides for the appointment of three nominated members to the Territorial Assembly which has 30 elected members.
But it was only in 1985 that this facility was first used by the Congressional government led by MOH Farook after 23 years since the Union Territory was formed in the wake of the merger in 1962.
Friction between the prime minister and the lieutenant governor, as seen during Narayanasamy’s tenure, was a rarity in the past.
The fight between AIADMK Prime Minister S Ramasamy in 1974 and then-Deputy Governor Chhedi Lal was not as intense as between Narayanasamy and Kiran Bedi.
(With PTI inputs)
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