Haryana’s defeat has spoiled the air, Congress must be really groaning due to SP’s washout.

New Delhi: Claimed half, got zero. This is the condition of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh which got six seats in the Lok Sabha election results on June 4 and it seemed that the way for its strengthening in partnership with Samajwadi Party (SP) has been opened. But the same Samajwadi Party has given such a defeat after just four months that even the bones and ribs of Congress were broken. On top of that, the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Has also claimed that he/she has been given this wash with the consent of Congress. Akhilesh announced on social media platform X late on Wednesday night that SP will field its candidates on all nine assembly seats in the by-elections to be held in UP. Meaning, the coalition party Congress has remained a thrashing Gopal.

Akhilesh beats Rahul

Akhilesh wrote on X, ‘It is not about winning the seat, it is about winning. Under this strategy, the joint candidates of India Alliance will contest elections on all the 9 seats on the cycle symbol of Samajwadi Party. he/she said that Congress has given unprecedented support to SP. he/she writes, ‘With the coming together of Congress Party’s top leadership to booth level workers, the power of Samajwadi Party has increased manifold. With this unprecedented cooperation and support, every worker of the India Alliance has been filled with new energy with a resolve to win on all the 9 assembly seats.

Try the strategy of not letting him/her cry even after beating him/her.

This is also a color of politics. Beat him/her hard and don’t even let him/her cry. By claiming five seats, Congress had expressed that it is not a small but an equal partner of SP, but SP said – even if it is small, if you think of equality then go ahead. Akhilesh claimed ‘cooperation from booth level workers of Congress to the top leadership’ and made such a move that what if Congress does? If she opens her mouth, it will send a message of rift in the alliance which swept Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. Only four-and-a-half months have passed since SP-Congress together won 43 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in UP and made BJP smaller. But during this time another thing happened – Congress’s defeat in the Haryana Assembly elections. This defeat alone ruined the Congress’s alliance. If Congress had won in Haryana, then SP would not have been able to do the big audacity of not even going out of its way to cry by thrashing it in UP.

How could Akhilesh do this?

Another factor is also working behind SP’s defeat of Congress in the UP by-elections. In the Lok Sabha elections, SP contested 63 seats while Congress contested in partnership on 17 seats. SP achieved a strike rate of 59% by winning 37 out of 63 seats, while Congress remained far away from SP in strike rate by winning only six out of 17 seats. The strike rate of Congress party was only 35. Now when the turn of by-elections came, SP offered only two seats to Congress against the demand of five. That too in such seats where the track record itself says that the defeat of Congress is almost certain. These seats are Ghaziabad Sadar and Khair assembly seat of Aligarh. Instead of being defeated by its opponents in the election field, Congress chose to be defeated by its allies and withdrew from the by-elections.

Will Rahul Gandhi take revenge for UP in Maharashtra?

Just as SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has praised Rahul Gandhi’s generosity under the guise of top Congress leadership without taking his/her name, Rahul has the same opportunity in Maharashtra. Rahul can also praise Akhilesh’s generosity by giving him/her land in Maharashtra. In the equation of seat sharing that has been formed after a long tussle between Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra, there is only scope left that only Congress party can do something for SP. Out of the total 288 assembly seats, Congress, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena seem to be in talks on 85-85 seats. In this way, a total of 255 seats will go to the account of these three big parties of the alliance and the remaining 33 seats are to be distributed among the smaller allies. In such a situation, it remains to be seen what will come to Akhilesh’s account? Akhilesh has staked claim on 12 seats there.

There is no special good news for Congress in Maharashtra also.

Well, this is the opportunity for Congress to take revenge of UP in Maharashtra. The real thing is that if Congress takes revenge then from how many? In Maharashtra, the Congress Party had the best performance in the alliance by winning 13 Lok Sabha seats. In this sense, it should have got more seats than the other constituent parties in the assembly elections. But there too Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray did not allow Congress to run. On top of that, Uddhav Thackeray also claims that he/she will become the Chief Minister. Congress and Sharad faction’s NCP were able to convince Uddhav with great difficulty to desist from raising the slogan of CM post before the elections. Uddhav wanted the alliance to declare him/her as the chief ministerial face, but this could not happen. Congress knows that Uddhav Thackeray will be angry about this matter.

Same thing would have happened even if Congress had not lost Haryana?

Whatever dreams Rahul Gandhi had of improving the performance of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, the defeat in Haryana has ruined all those dreams. Rahul must have understood the force with which Akhilesh shook Rahul’s hand in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, in Jharkhand too, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has refused to accept Congress as an equal partner. In the 81-seat assembly, JMM has given 40 seats while Congress has given 30 seats. The question is whether the seat sharing formula would have remained the same even if the Congress party had won in Haryana?