The complete rout of the Congress in Tripura and Nagaland coinciding with it losing majority in Meghalaya almost completed its exit from the Northeast. Now, the party is ruling only Mizoram which is scheduled to go to polls in December.
In Tripura, the Congress vote share has slid from 45 per cent to a mere 1.8 per cent while the BJP share went up from 1.5 per cent to a staggering 43 per cent. In Nagaland, the party had to remain content with a mere vote share of 2.1 per cent against the 14.4 per cent secured by the BJP. Emerging as the single largest party in Meghalaya with 21 seats is the only solace for the party though it is short of nine seats to cross the magic figure needed for simple majority.
While party leaders in Delhi were expecting a defeat, they had pinned their hopes on the charisma of CPI(M) Chief Minister Manik Sarkar to stop the BJP juggernaut. The results also came as a reflection on former Rajasthan MP CP Joshi, who claims to be close to Rahul Gandhi, as he was the in-charge general secretary of all three states — Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. He already carries the blame for Congress's poor show in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam as well as Manipur.
Congress leaders believes that a positive show would have boosted the confidence of workers in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are going to polls in 2018 ahead of next year general elections, as the Northeast has recently started drawing attention at the national headquarters.
But while, senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Kamal Nath were rushed to the state to gather the support of independent candidates and regional parties, disgruntled workers in Tripura told DNA that the party had turned a blind eye to the state unit. "The party had practically no investment in us, no prominent leaders visited while the BJP flew in the entire cabinet," a senior Congress leader said. Another prominent leader also pointed out lack of funds.
Party president Rahul Gandhi, who was in Meghalaya for four days, went to Tripura only once. He skipped Nagaland completely as they had a tough time to even field candidates there.
Perhaps the Congress president knew that he had no chance in the Northeast. He devoted little time, and concentrated on electioneering in Karnataka instead.
After claiming a moral victory in Gujarat Assembly elections, the Congress was supposed to push forward. But failing to create an alternate narrative and a lack of funds led the decimation of the Grand Old Party in the Northeast.
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