Veteran leaders term it leadership’s failure, say 5 seats were won due to NC factor only
Srinagar, Oct 8: The election results on October 8 could be no less than a shock for the Congress party that has witnessed its worst ever drubbing in Jammu and Kashmir’s political landscape, managing to win mere five seats from Kashmir and just one from the Jammu region in the 90 seat assembly.
The Congress was seen as having an edge in Jammu at the start of the poll campaign due to strong anti-incumbency against the BJP over different issues, including a rise in eviction drives and property taxes, setting up of toll plazas, as well as disappointment over the non-materialization of promised opportunities following the abrogation of Article 370. There was also resentment within the party ranks over dropping of many senior leaders to pave way for new faces.
The Congress contested 30 of Jammu’s 43 seats, including four where it was in a friendly contest with the NC. The only seat it won was Rajouri (ST-reserved), where its candidate Iftkar Ahmed scraped through by 1,404 votes, making it the party’s worst-ever performance in Jammu. It was the first time constituencies were reserved for STs in J&K, and Ahmed defeated senior BJP leader Vibodh Gupta.
However, the Congress stumbled in converting all these factors into votes, mainly due to its lacklustre campaign against the BJP’s aggressive fightback across the region. Senior Congress leaders especially Rahul Gandhi did not address a single rally in Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur districts, which the BJP swept. Even ally and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah commented on the Congress’s failure to pull its weight in Jammu.
The Congress list also got its caste calculations wrong. In a province where Brahmins and Mahajans are in sizeable numbers, the party fielded only two Brahmins, and no Mahajan leader. Later, in a damage control exercise, the party announced a Brahmin and Mahajan as working presidents, but it was too late by then.
There was also resentment against the Congress over issues of Dogra certificate and settlement of Rohingya. In 2011, when the Congress was in power at the Centre, the benefits available only to the Dogras during Army recruitment were extended to people across the whole of J&K. The Congress government is also accused by many of allowing settlement of the Rohingya refugees.
Insiders within the Congress party told that the party has no reason to rejoice at the present time as it has lost a majority of its seats from its otherwise strongholds especially when from the entire Jammu region, it has got mere one seat. “We would not have even won the five seats from the Kashmir division. We won them because of our alliance with the national Conference. This alliance has given us these seats, otherwise we would have lost them too,” says a senior Congress leader wishing not to be named.
He added that there are confabulations going on within the Congress party about what has gone wrong and where. “We got Rahul Gandhi in Jammu and Kashmir but there is no effect of his presence if we look at the results. We really wonder whose defeat it is. The JKPCC President has to take moral responsibility for this defeat. Beating drums will not hide our failures. What if we had no alliance with the National Conference. The fact is that this is our worst ever defeat and we have to contemplate the reasons behind such a scenario. We have lost an entire Jammu region where NC gave us an open field,” said another Congress leader and former legislator.
Repeated attempts to contact JKPCC Chief Tariq Kara for comments on the issue didnt fructify.
The assembly election results 2024 were announced on Tuesday with NC sweeping 42 seats followed by the BJP that won 29 seats.
