Doubt on opposition unity as Congress puts up a dismal show in the Northeastern states

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• Mar 4, 2023 | Dhupali Das

Analysts and party insiders argue that Congress will have to change its practices in the run-up to a half-dozen assembly elections and...

Digital Desk: Even as the Congress claims opposition unity and leads the anti-BJP front in 2024, the debacle in three North-Eastern states raises doubts about opposition unity and the Congress' compatibility with its alliance partners.

Analysts and party insiders argue that the Congress will have to change its practices in the run-up to a half-dozen assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, citing the failed Tripura experiment in which the Congress partnered with the CPM for a pre-poll alliance.

In a political resolution passed at the Congress plenary meeting in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, the party declared that it will play a key role in identifying and mobilizing like-minded parties to run against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

However, political scientist Sandeep Shastri points out that parties must share 'political chemistry' in addition to electoral arithmetic in order to win elections.

"The unity has to be seen in terms of the workers at the bottom level. The important question is whether the workers on the ground share that unity. For voters to genuinely believe the unity argument, it must be based on policy,"  the political scientist said.

Tripura results show that, while Congress benefited from the coalition, it did not benefit CPI (M), as its tally of 16 MLAs in 2018 plummeted to 11 this year. The party's vote share decreased from 42.22 percent in 2018 to 24.62 percent in 2019. Nonetheless, Congress' vote share increased from 2% in 2018 to 8.56% now.

A senior Congress official who participated in the election campaign in Tripura confessed that Congress workers did not transfer votes to the CPM because they could not accept the alliance with the old rivals.

"The alliance failed because the vote transfer from Congress didn’t happen," he said requesting anonymity.

Soon following the election results, Kerala Minister PA Muhammad Riyas chastised the Congress over the absence of leaders such as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in the Tripura campaign.

As the Congress celebrates its victory in three assembly byelections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, political commentators point out that the triumph is entirely due to the support of its allies in the respective states.