The Congress's credibility and goodwill seem to be rapidly declining. Its allies in the INDI Alliance are likewise not treating it with the civility it has been used to after the crushing it took in the last three Assembly elections. President of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, called a meeting of the INDI Alliance on December 6 after severing most ties with its co-parties due to its obsession with the State elections, in which it utterly failed to win a point. However, important alliance members pulled a fast one at the last minute and announced that they would not be able to attend, forcing Congress to reschedule the event.
Prominent personalities such as Mamata Banerjee, the leader of the TMC, Nitish Kumar of JD(U), Akhilesh Yadav of SP, and MK Stalin of DMK were absent, indicating the growing dissatisfaction within the coalition. Mamata cited commitments, Stalin is working on relief efforts following Cyclone Michaung, and Nitish is supposedly suffering from a viral fever. The Congress found itself in a difficult situation due to the unannounced nature of these absences. It was evident from the lack of coordination and communication that the Congress was ill-equipped to oversee the alliance. In response to the unhappiness, the Congress rescheduled the heads of parties meeting for the third week of December, limiting attendance to just floor leaders.
This change is intended to facilitate better involvement and fit in with the hectic schedules of alliance leaders, which ought to have been the top priority from the beginning. The postponement, however, suggests that Congress has to reconsider how it handles alliance management and communication.
For the Congress, these are trying times. The INDIA coalition, which was closely observing the elections and hoped for a change of direction in the northern area, must have been demoralized as well by the party's annihilation. The development also suggests that while having a positive influence, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra did not result in any votes. The alliance's cracks were evident even before to the elections.
Citing Assembly polls, a number of bloc parties, including the TMC, AAP, SP, and JD(U), expressed annoyance with the Congress for delaying alliance initiatives like seat-sharing negotiations. Some members of the alliance feel that the political momentum obtained after earlier meetings has been lost, which raises questions about the cohesion and efficacy of the coalition due to the delay. In order to win the coming political struggle, the Congress needs to resolve the issues of seeming discord, the dispute surrounding the use of electronic voting machines to rig Assembly elections, and restore the stability, efficacy, and cohesiveness of the alliance. The Congress will have a chance to reorganize, get in touch with alliance partners, and steer the coalition toward a more unified goal during the rescheduled meeting. It will also serve as a decisive test for the INDIA bloc's capacity to endure as a unit.
