Lack of planning, weak narrative behind MVA debacle

The Congress lost the last poll battle of 2024. This is the second consecutive blow in one month’s time and a major setback after the Lok Sabha elections where it had rattled the BJP-led NDA. The grand old party has proved that it has mastered the art of hitting self-goals and has gone senile. They failed because there was a lack of preparation, weak leadership, absence of a strong narrative, and internal bickering led to a loss of key vote banks.

The Congress committed the same mistake which BJP made before Lok Sabha elections. Their overconfidence and the strong feeling that it would be ‘Ab Ki bar 400 par,’ made them taste the bitter pill. This time the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was confident that they would win180 Assembly seats hands down and felt that the anti-incumbency factor would catapult them to power. However, they had no proper plan to convert the anti-incumbency into votes and adopted a casual attitude and were never seen in a fighting mode. They thought it would be a repeat of the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress as usual did not learn any lesson from the Haryana elections where it lost a great opportunity to come to power because of sheer lack of planning and again overconfidence.

In Maharashtra, for the last three months the focus was on ‘Kaun Banega CM’. Sanjay Raut of Thackeray Shiv Sena claimed it would be Uddhav Thackaray, while Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat claimed that he would be the CM. But he lost for the first time after three decades. The MVA had wasted time between July to September without hitting the ground. Rahul Gandhi addressed only seven rallies and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge nine. The party which wrangled for maximum seats contested in 108 and won only 16.

Even after getting decimated in Haryana elections, the party’s so-called pseudo intellectuals failed to set the house in order. The other leaders did not come out of cheer leaders’ mode. Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge failed to set the house in order. They never planned ahead and put forth a wrong narrative. They did not cash in on the anger of farmers on low MSP of soya bean and cotton which were the major issues; they, instead, held two Samvidhan Sabhas amid the elections in Nagpur and Kolhapur, where the party had scored poorly. Rahul refused to understand that the narrative of ‘Constitution Khatre mein hai’ was not working.

On the contrary, the Mahayuti led by BJP after its debacle in July made some quick moves. The Shinde-led government in Maharashtra had introduced the ‘Ladli Bahin’ scheme under which poor women were given Rs 1,500 each per month. More than two crore women benefited from the scheme. The Congress-led MVA did not know how to react. They wanted to criticise the scheme as a waste of money. When they realised that the scheme had come as a boon for Mahayuti, they hurriedly announced that they would give Rs 3000. But it was too late.

The leaders of BJP, RSS and Mahayuti hit the ground in August itself, and the RSS organised around 60,000 meetings targeting OBC voters. Devender Phadnavis, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar unleashed a massive campaign, connected with the people and doused the anger of voters. The Congress candidates were left to fend for themselves amidst the onslaught from the ruling alliance.

The Mahayuti worked with disgruntled voters ‘bit by bit’ to rein in the anti-incumbency against the government. The BJP stitched a bouquet of election issues, including welfare, development, Hindutva, and even a dash of nationalism and it turned out to be Mahayuiti’s ‘Maha Win.’