Haryana, J-K poll results: INDIA allies accuse Congress of arrogance

Allies of the Congress in the INDIA alliance on Wednesday (October 9) charged the grand old party with arrogance after it lost the Assembly elections in Haryana and fared poorly in Jammu and Kashmir.

A day after the results stunned the Congress, the Shiv Sena of Uddhav Thackeray, the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) all came out with stringing attacks on the main Opposition party.

Also read: Rahul on Haryana poll result: ‘Analysing unexpected results, will inform EC’

Party leaders pointed out that the Jammu and Kashmir outcome showed that the Congress needed a strong ally like the National Conference (NC) while Haryana was a clear indicator that the Congress minus allies tends to lose to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in straight contests.

Results cast a long shadow

The outcome of the electoral battles in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir is widely expected to have a bearing on the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.

Also read: Rahul stumbles in Haryana, needs to 'dirty his hands' in realpolitik

"The Congress is going to be disappointed with its performance. I really don't need to heap insult on injury,” said National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.

Omar’s perspective

“Haryana was a huge shock... I am sure Congress is going to sit back and analyse what went wrong, and try to put corrective steps in place for Maharashtra and Jharkhand," he told India Today TV.

Also read: Congress stares at seat-sharing hiccups after drubbing in Haryana, Jammu

He added that his party would have finished on top in Jammu and Kashmir even without the Congress, indicating it was the Congress that needed the National Conference.

The Haryana loss in a straight fight against the BJP came after similar defeats in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Sena attacks Congress

An editorial in Saamana, the mouthpiece of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, warned Congress leaders in Maharashtra to learn from the "overconfidence and arrogance of the state leadership" in Haryana.

"Even in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the same thing happened. Internal issues prevailed within the party, which led to the party losing both the states," it said.

The editorial said the Congress tasted victory in Jammu and Kashmir because it allied with the National Conference while it ignored the AAP and other potential allies in Haryana and was worsted.

Trinamool flays arrogance

In Jammu and Kashmir, where elections to the 90-member Assembly were held for the first time in 10 years, the NC-Congress alliance won 48 seats while the BJP secured 29 seats.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale lashed out at the Congress’ arrogant attitude.

“This attitude leads to electoral losses... If we feel we’re winning, we will not accommodate any regional party... But in states where we’re down, regional parties must accommodate us," he posted on X (formerly Twitter). "Arrogance, entitlement, and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster. Learn."

AAP too targets Congress

Former Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was muted in his criticism, saying the "biggest lesson" from Haryana was that no one should ever be "overconfident".

But AAP spokesperson Prihanya Kakkar did not mince words when she announced that the AAP will contest the Delhi Assembly elections on its own.

“We are capable of fighting the overconfident Congress and arrogant BJP alone," she said.

Congress didn’t return favour: AAP

She blamed the Congress for not taking alliance partners seriously in Haryana and ultimately facing a defeat due to overconfidence.

"The Congress has had zero seats in the Delhi Assembly for the past 10 years, yet the AAP gave the Congress three seats in the Lok Sabha polls; still they did not feel necessary to take allies along in Haryana," she said.

Haryana, Kashmir results

In Jammu and Kashmir, while the National Conference won 42 of the 51 seats it contested, the Congress got just six of the 32 seats it fought.

In Haryana, the BJP swept 48 of the 90 seats, leaving the Congress with 37. The Indian National Lok Dal won two seats and Independent candidates got three.