Pure politics: Will the results of Haryana elections affect Maharashtra? Know the answer of Congress General Secretary Avinash Pandey

New Delhi: Along with the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the process of by-elections is also going on in many states including UP. The contest is between the ruling NDA and INDIA at the Centre. Manjari Chaturvedi talked to Avinash Pandey, Congress General Secretary and Senior Coordinator in Maharashtra, on these elections. Here are the highlights of the conversation:

Do you believe that the results of Haryana elections have or will have an impact on the current elections? Especially if we talk about Congress, what has been its impact?

The result which was expected from Haryana, the result which was expected from Congress, did not come. When the environment on the ground is not in favor of Congress, then it is obvious that the morale of the party and the workers is adversely affected. This truth cannot be denied. If we talk about the current UP by-elections and assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, then the political equations and challenges there are quite different from Haryana. They cannot be compared with Haryana.

Was it a reflection of Haryana results that there was no coordination of seats between Congress and SP in UP by-elections? Why did Congress have to support SP on all 10 seats in UP?

Frankly speaking, this can be considered as the party taking a step back and preparing itself for the future challenges in a better way. The kind of trust that the people of UP showed towards Congress and India in the recent Lok Sabha elections, is in itself a clear indication that the people of UP want to oust the BJP government from power in 2027. The people of UP want to get freedom from the government which has created a wall of hatred among the people. In such a situation, Congress decided to support SP on all seats, respecting the aspirations of the people of UP and to prevent division in secular votes.

At the national level, the idea on which India was created, our aim is not to let that idea weaken and to take it forward strongly. Congress successfully organized Save Constitution Rally in ten assembly seats, in which we got tremendous support from the public. On seat distribution, we believe that if it is not respectable then we will get no benefit by fighting stubbornly to divide the votes, whereas BJP will get a chance to win again. Therefore our national leadership decided to support its ally SP instead of contesting the elections.

You have been in charge of Jharkhand for a long time. What possibilities are seen for India in Jharkhand?

In the last five years, BJP has been making continuous efforts under its Operation Lotus to destabilize a popularly elected government. Earlier, the way attempts were made to buy our MLAs, like an attempt was made to defame a tribal Chief Minister by making baseless allegations against him/her and to mislead the tribals, due to this there is a lot of anger among the public. Whatever development work has been done in Jharkhand in the last five years, BJP has been trying to thwart the development plans by creating obstacles on the part of the Central Government. The people there had to suffer the consequences of this. This is the reason why people there sympathize with India’s constituent parties Congress and JMM.

How do you see JMM’s senior leader and former CM Champai Soren joining BJP?

In these five years, the BJP central government has continuously tried to target Congress and JMM leaders and harass them through ED, police, courts and other agencies. When you mentioned Champai Soren, the way the tribal Chief Minister and tribal people were terrorized, the people of Jharkhand will answer for it.

In Maharashtra, a tough contest is being considered between Mahayuti and Mahavikas Aghadi. After the Lok Sabha elections, the atmosphere in Maharashtra was considered to be in favor of INDIA, but after Haryana the situation has changed. What do you feel on the ground?

The electoral alliance formed between Mahavikas Aghadi in Maharashtra is, according to me, the strongest alliance so far. The way BJP in Maharashtra did an unconstitutional and impractical act by breaking Shiv Sena and NCP, it has hurt the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra. The way in which money was used to buy and sell MLAs by misusing the constitutional institutions and the government system for the change of power in Maharashtra has never happened in the history of Maharashtra. Maharashtra neither promoted nor accepted such culture. Due to these actions of BJP, the identity of Maharashtra has been deeply hurt, due to which today the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra are with India. For a long time, the government and administration in the state seem to be in complete collapse, corruption is at its peak, the way the government treasury is being misused for their political interests, people are not only watching this thing closely. Not only are they there but they are also understanding it completely.

In Maharashtra, their own rebels are becoming a big challenge for both the Mahayuti and Mahavikas Aghadi camps. After all, how will this rebel factor be controlled?

During the four-five days of Diwali, all the big leaders of our party kept trying to convince these rebel candidates. Not only Congress, but the coalition partners also did the same. There is more dissatisfaction in BJP than in us. We understand that our workers have worked hard on all the 288 seats in the state, but in the seat distribution, no single party got all the seats. The voter is understanding with whom the interest of the state lies and to strengthen INDIA, the voter knows who is the candidate of Aghadi and will choose him/her to give a stable government.