Congress 'stunned into negligence' after Lok Sabha polls, Shashi Tharoor reflects on Haryana, Maharashtra loss
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has claimed that the Congress party was 'stunned into negligence' after the shocking mandate in the Lok Sabha polls 2019. This negligence delayed the planning strategies for Haryana elections which might have cost the party a state they could have won.
Speaking to The Wire, Tharoor said no one in Congress party was expecting the Lok Sabha election result to pan out like it did. The result 'stunned' the Congress and hindered preparations in Haryana.
"Six months ago we were going through all these ructions at the end of the Lok Sabha polls results which no one expected, then we were in a state of limbo regarding who the party president would be after Rahul Gandhi resigned. All these things Congress party and delayed the Haryana campaign," Tharoor said.
"We could have had a few weeks more of what turned out to be a very effective campaign in Haryana, I was speaking to people in Haryana and i knew that we would do well in the state," Tharoor added.
Congress never expected to win in Maharashtra: Shashi Tharoor
Speaking about the result in Maharashtra Assembly polls, Shashi Tharoor confessed that Congress party never expected to win.
"In Maharashtra, we were expecting the defeat. So the result wasn't much of a surprise to that extent. The fact that we did as well as we did was reassuring. Congress did as well as it could, the NCP did far better than expected. Therefore cumulatively we did better," he said.
Speaking of why BJP won Tharoor said, "From what I know, BJP did not win because they did anything particularly right, they won because they did not do anything spectacularly wrong. People did not see enough reasons to vote against them. They contested fewer seats and their vote share did rise comparatively."
Congress' revival has just begun
Shashi Tharoor claimed that the results in Haryana and Maharashtra show that the Congress party is reviving, however, this is only the beginning of what is likely to be a lengthy process.
Speaking on the selection of the new Congress party president, Tharoor said that the senior leaders were against choosing a president by means of an open election because they feel that it would create a sense of divisiveness and factionalism in the party and could end up being counterproductive.
Congress lost the recently held assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. In Haryana BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar has already been sworn in as the Chief Minister, while in Maharashtra, the BJP is expected to draw out a deal with ally Shiv Sena to form a government in the next few days.
