The recently concluded Lok Sabha election results have cost the opposition parties dearly.
Congress, which was the most affected party in these elections, was somehow reconciling from the meltdown it faced after being reduced to mere 52 seats in the 542 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. However, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) added insult to injury by announcing to sever ties with Congress.
This development comes after Congress accused National Conference for their defeat in Jammu and Kashmir in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections by alleging that Farooq and Omar Abdullah did not campaign for the party in Jammu.
As per reports, Abdullah on Tuesday announced that his party will contest the next assembly elections alone, stating his party was confident of achieving a massive mandate on its own. “We won’t have an alliance with any party,” he said in an address to his party workers this afternoon. He further added that a stable, strong and people friendly government is the answer to problems facing Jammu and Kashmir.
Ravinder Sharma, Congress chief spokesperson in Jammu and Kashmir, while speaking to India today lashed out at NC. He said its leaders didn’t campaign for the Congress candidates. The NC, however, brushed off these allegations and hitting back at Congress, their leader Anil Dhar stated that Rahul Gandhi-led party is itself responsible for their Lok Sabha rout.
Warning the Congress against blaming the NC for its poll debacle, Dhar blamed the Congress high command and their state leaders for their debacle.
The Congress and other parties suffered a crushing defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In first back-to-back majority in the Lok Sabha polls for a single party in over three decades, the Modi-led BJP won 303 seats out of 542, reducing Congress to an embarrassing number of 52 seats.
Congress had fielded 421 candidates across the country but only 52 of them got elected from 18 states and union territories. The party won the maximum number of 15 seats in Kerala followed by eight in Punjab and Tamil Nadu each. In 17 states and union territories, it could not even open its account. Meanwhile, the SP-BSP alliance despite its tall claims had barely secured 15 seats out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh during these elections.
Interestingly, in Uttar Pradesh Congress fielded 67 candidates. However, 63 of these lost their security deposits causing major embarrassment to the party in the state.
On similar lines, the SP-BSP Mahagathbandhan alliance today hinted of a possible break up. Earlier, BSP supremo Mayawati held Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav responsible for SP-BSP Mahagathbandhan’s disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha 2019 polls. She suggested that her party would contest the assembly by-polls solo. Yadav too has admitted the possibility of going into the by-polls alone if the coalition stands broken.
