Kumar Rakesh
In Punjab, Congress Party is facing a tough fight to maintain its existence. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress Party won 52 Lok Sabha seats. Of these seats, the Congress party won 60 percent of the seats from three states: Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Congress Party contested 38 seats in these three states and won 31 seats. Whereas in the rest of the country, the Congress Party contested 383 seats and won only 21 seats. Congress party won 8 seats from Tamil Nadu only because of its alliance with DMK. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party contested all the seats on its own and secured 4.3 percent of the votes without losing any seat. In Kerala, the Congress party won 15 seats within the UDF alliance with several parties including the Indian Union Muslim League.
Congress leaders joining other parties
For the Congress Party, Punjab was one of those states in the country in which the party stood on its own. Even after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Congress Party won the Punjab Assembly elections. The Congress party had a galaxy of leaders like Captain Amarinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar and many others in Punjab. But due to the family-centric politics of the Gandhi family, the Congress party has had to pay a heavy price in the entire country and especially in Punjab. Many leaders of the Congress Party have left the party and many are thinking of joining another party. In Punjab, many senior leaders of the Congress Party are seen joining other parties like BJP, Akali Dal.
Punjab Congress will meet the same fate as Delhi Congress
It must be acknowledged that the Punjab Congress will suffer the same fate as the Congress of Delhi. For the Congress Party, there are many similarities between these two states. Both the states had strong leaders in the form of Sheila Dikshit and Captain Amarinder Singh in Delhi and Punjab respectively. Due to the big misfortune that happened with the Congress Party, the roots of the Aam Aadmi Party became stronger in these two states. First of all AAP replaced itself with Congress party in Delhi and now in Punjab also AAP seems to be behaving similarly with Congress. Since the last two assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party has not even been able to open its account in Delhi.
#WATCH | On farmers' protest, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa says, "A 23-year-old from Bathinda district was shot during police firing, there is a video of it and I have seen it. Unfortunately, all these protesters were in Punjab territory and none of them didn’t do anything… pic.twitter.com/M5by2NRcLf
— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2024
AAP completely side-lined Congress
The arrival of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab has completely sidelined the Congress Party. The Congress party had appreciated the efforts of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab after it had taken the suicidal step of making Charanjit Singh Channi the Chief Minister in place of the popular Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Captain Amarinder Singh was not a stooge of the Gandhi family and took steps mainly for the welfare of the state. Apart from this, the discord in Punjab regarding the coronation of a leader of one’s choice instead of popularity within the Gandhi family also proved costly for the party.
By-elections exposed Congress
The two recent Lok Sabha by-elections in Punjab have completely exposed the party’s losing support base in the state. Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat has been represented by the Congress Party since the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party won this seat with different candidates in 1999, 20004 and 2009. Santokh Singh Chaudhary of the Congress Party won the seat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Santokh Singh Chaudhary died during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo visit. In the by-election held after this, the Congress Party, to take advantage of the sympathy, fielded his widow Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary. But for the first time since 1999, the Congress party lost the seat by a large margin in the 2023 by-election. The decision of this by-election exposed the reality of Congress Party’s declining support base in Punjab and Rahul Gandhi’s much publicized Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Worst performance of Congress in Punjab
By-election was held in Sangrur due to the resignation of Bhagwant Mann after becoming the Chief Minister. Congress party’s deposit forfeited in Sangrur 2022 by-election. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party got only 11.21% votes. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party got 27.43% votes. Meanwhile, the Congress party lost 16.22% votes. These two by-elections in Punjab have completely exposed the support base of the Congress party. The number of seats of the Congress party in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections reduced from 77 in 2017 to 18 in 2022. This was the worst performance of the Congress party in Punjab since 1997.
Congress’s vote share decreased
The Congress Party’s number of seats in the Punjab Assembly was the same as in 1977 when the Congress Party won 17 seats. Compared to 2017, the number of seats of the Congress Party in 2022 has decreased by 59 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party has capitalized on the mistakes of the Congress Party, which replaced Captain Amarinder Singh without any reason. The vote share of the Congress party decreased by more than 15% in 2022 with respect to the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party took the lead in 69 assembly constituencies, while in the 2022 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party’s tally dropped to only 18.
Congress party has completely lost its ground in Punjab
The mistakes of the Congress party like replacing Captain Amarinder Singh, the by-election results and the 2022 assembly election results have clearly demonstrated that the Congress party has completely lost its ground in Punjab. Now such figures are coming out that BJP will win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Since voters in the Lok Sabha elections have national issues at their core, they are considering BJP as the main challenge for AAP. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP contested in alliance with Akali Dal and won two seats while contesting only three seats. Meanwhile, the support base in Punjab has increased with many leaders including Captain Amarinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar joining BJP. It is likely that many more leaders of the Congress party, including some MPs and MLAs, will also join the BJP.
AAP will not form alliance with Congress in Punjab
In the new political equation today, in view of the decreasing support base of the Congress Party in the state and the results of the by-elections of two Lok Sabha seats, the Aam Aadmi Party has completely rejected any possibility of alliance with the Congress Party in Punjab. AAP is ready for alliance with Congress Party in Delhi, but not in Punjab. The Punjab unit of the Congress Party is in despair after the departure of Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar.
