The grand old party has been rendered to a mere “old party” now that their star entrant has maligned the little name and reputation the party had left. In a strange admittance, the Gandhi daughter has portrayed that the Congress has given up all hopes they had from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Perhaps the toll of all the controversies, scams and the leadership deficiency was too much for the party to handle. In an interaction with Rajdeep Sardesai, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stated that Congress has fielded candidates for the sole purpose of cutting the vote-share of the BJP. The admittance reveals that the party has given up any sort of hopes to even compete against the BJP. Now, they are just playing second-fiddle to regional parties, one of which had even failed to open the account in the last General Elections.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s candidature was supposed to be a ‘Bhramastra’ against PM Modi in the elections. She was meant to revive the grand old party’s misfortunes, particularly in the politically crucial state of UP. Now it seems that the ‘Bhramastra’ herself has given up on the party’s future. In an interview to India Today, she stated that she has selected each of UP’s candidates personally after discussion with the senior party leaders in the state. In furtherance to this, she is proudly admitting that each of those candidates is going to cut the vote share of BJP. For Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whether or not the candidate will win from the particular constituency was irrelevant. All she was concerned with was what they are making a difference in terms of cutting the vote share of the saffron party. She has admitted that her party has fielded candidates with the aim of cutting the vote share of BJP and said that it’s her 100% guarantee that the Congress candidates are going to do the same.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra: BJP will suffer a major setback in UP, they'll lose badly. In those seats where Congress is strong & our candidates are giving a tough fight, Congress will win. Jahan hamare ummedwar thode halke hain, wahan humne aise ummedwar diye hain jo BJP ka vote kaate pic.twitter.com/2f2BMMQCBs
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 1, 2019
Behna gets more explicit about vote katua thing. Says she personally chose candidates who are in best position to divide BJP's votes & help SP/BSP candidates pic.twitter.com/uNd8IiO8JZ
— iMac_too (@iMac_too) May 1, 2019
In a befitting reply to Priyanka’s statement, BJP National spokesperson, Dr. Sambit Patra stated, “Today, GOP is equal to VKP. Congress used to call itself Grand Old Party, now it has become Vote-Katua-Party. It used to call itself the largest and oldest party of the country, which now has reduced to Vote-katua-party. Congress’ general secretary Priyanka Vadra has accepted it. We are noticing how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is accepting that Congress party is not fighting to win, but it is fighting to cut the votes. It is now clear that Congress party has lost in the elections, since it is not fighting to win. Priyanka Gandhi earlier also said that they are preparing for 2022. She has accepted that losing their aim and not winning, with only one aim ‘Modi Hatao'”.
Patra further commented, “Her admission also raises one question. Are they (Congress) with the Gathbandhan, are they against the Gathbandhan? What is this relation called?”
Indeed, this cutting of the vote share is obviously meant to garner support for the SP-BSP alliance, the same alliance which Congress was not made a part of, even after much imploration. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been originally appointed as the general secretary for UP East for attempting to change the SP-BSP stand of including Congress in the mahagathbandhan fold. However, her “charms” and “fabled political acumen” had failed to reap the expected benefits when Mayawati had categorically refused to let Congress enter the fray, citing its negligible influence. SP-BSP though, feeling pity for the Congress decided to not field candidates in Rai Bareili and Amethi, the two remaining Congress seats in UP. Moreover, it has been rumoured that Priyanka did not contest from Varanasi, as had been the original speculation because Mayawati refused to retire her candidate from that constituency. Overall, there is no love lost between Congress and the mahagathbandhan; and yet Congress is desperately trying to please them.
Under Rahul Gandhi’s substandard leadership, Congress has been on a sharp decline in Indian politics. From being a party that dominated Indian politics for years, it has now been reduced to a party that has to compulsorily have an alliance to even be marginally relevant. In the states which refused an alliance, the party has been reduced to a spoilsport in elections, in accordance to Priyanka’s own admission.
Moreover, it is not only Priyanka Gandhi who has lost all hopes from the grand old party. Further dampening party’s spirits, Kamal Nath the Congress chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, in an interview to BBC had stated that the party is not in a position to get a majority in the Parliament. He has now provided a number for the seats Congress may be able to secure, which is 132, in the upcoming elections. The given calculation would still not be enough for Congress to form the government at the centre.
@OfficeOfKNath tells me that the @INCIndia will triple its seats in the parliament & win 122 seats. When asked, if the Congress would support a ‘third front’ in case of a hung parliament – he said- ‘the goal of all the parties is to keep the BJP out of power’ #Election2019 pic.twitter.com/lWXBIOyKcx
— Sameer Hashmi (@sameerhashmi) April 25, 2019
Kamal Nath and now Priyanka Vadra Gandhi are merely admitting what the party and citizens already believe. The goal of the participation of their candidates is not to reap any electoral benefits, but to cut the vote share of BJP. The party is wasting all its time, effort and resource, along with that of their members to create a hindrance in the BJP vote share. Ultimately, it is the country’s resources which are going down the drain; resources which could have been utilized in other ways. The saddest part of the whole exercise is that Congress has normalized this whole procedure and isn’t even ashamed. Holding such immense popularity and power since the time of independence, they have now rendered themselves so irrelevant that even the party leaders themselves do not hope of forming a government.
