Congress president took backseat, party kept negativity out of campaign but flawed strategy, Modi endgame onslaught, meant it came up short again.
New Delhi: In his first election as Congress president, since taking over in December last year, Rahul Gandhi allowed a powerful regional leader to helm the poll campaign, ensured that his party provided no faux pas for the BJP to attack him or it with and made a concerted effort to woo first-time voters who have been gravitating towards the BJP.
His party, however, still came up short, with its tally in Karnataka reducing from 122 in the 2013 elections to 78 this time around.
The party has extended support to the JD(S) to keep BJP out of power but its own performance has not been something to cheer about. Even a well-oiled campaign doesn’t seem good enough for the Congress president, who will now have to devise a different strategy to stop the saffron surge in the country. There were, however, some positives for Rahul Gandhi.
Chief campaigner to chief architect
It was an election where Congress had all the ingredients required to win in today’s politics. It had a government that won praise for its welfare schemes and a strong regional leader who was the face of the party in the campaign. And unlike in Gujarat, though he campaigned extensively in Karnataka, Rahul never let the limelight shift from chief minister Siddaramaiah. He rather played the role of a chief architect, bringing all Congress leaders in the state together and trying to build momentum on which Siddaramaiah could take off. But despite all his attempts, the party failed to win in the state.
No faux pas
It was a near flawless campaign by Congress in that the party and its leaders ensured that they provided no political fodder for the BJP to use against them. Chief minister Siddaramaiah was especially quick to retort every time BJP leaders made allegations against him, and every Congress leader spoke on what they had been briefed on; the party worked as a strong unit with everyone trying to win the state.
“Working under him every state leader felt empowered and there was no such thing as a high command. As you can see, there was no negativity from our side in the campaign. We stuck to real issues and tried to win hearts of the electorate on those issues,” says Rajeev Gowda, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP.
The Congress, however, faltered in terms of strategy as its attempts to highlight the issue of a separate flag and recommending separate religion status for the Lingayat community appear to have backfired for the party.
Reaching out to first-time voters
In Karnataka, the party came up with a special strategy to woo young voters for the first time. In January, it had started town hall meetings in various districts where young voters were invited to interact with young Congress leaders such as Dinesh Gundu Rao, Priyank Kharge and Krishna Byre Gowda.
“The party gave us enough opportunity to work with young voters and senior leaders extended support in a big way,” says Dinesh Gundu Rao, a state Congress leader and MLA. Whatever goodwill that the Congress earned with the young electorate, however, whittled away once Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit the campaign trail, leaving the Congress looking clueless. This is the second time after Gujarat, where Congress was put on the backfoot by the Prime Minister.
Rahul doesn’t match the charisma of PM Modi and the Congress doesn’t have a ‘death overs specialist’ who can stop the Modi onslaught. This is something the party should worry about in future elections. Rahul has been able to generate a sense of confidence among party workers but that is not getting transferred to voters. In a democracy, it is the voters who turn the tide and here, the BJP is much ahead of the Congress.
Tied down by same old issues
The issues that Rahul raised during the campaign were similar to what the party has been saying in other elections. Agrarian crisis, unemployment, economic distress, corruption, all form part of Rahul Gandhi’s speech. But perhaps the voter doesn’t connect with Congress on these issues.
“Rahul Gandhi did excellent work in Karnataka during the campaign,” says Rajeev Gowda. “From the result, it appears that the voting was based on identity politics. One community went with the BJP, another with the JD(S) and some flocked to us too. We were much ahead on development parameters and if that is a measure, we should have comfortably won the elections,” he adds.
The challenge before Rahul is to find a new narrative that can really translate into votes.
The lies and the authenticity of the preacher have upper hand to a gentleman like Shri.Rahul Gandhi. When it is the Bhagatsingh case or Tipu Sultan case , or the ‘Italian connection’the Jackal’s eyes are on a impending polarisation of voters .This Rahul cannot match with.