Haryana results, a blessing in disguise?

Congress lost Haryana and how! BJP returned a performance better than its 2014 performance when Modi wave was at its peak.

The vote share percentage ties both Congress and BJP at 39% or so. So, how come Congress lost and BJP won?

The devil my dear reader, is in detail.

It was the Congress rebel candidates that walked away with almost 11% of votes. They did the Congress in.

Congress snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

If the leadership wakes up to the mistakes they did in Haryana, this defeat can come as a blessing in disguise.

The lessons are;

1. Manage your rebel candidates. There should be no rebel candidate in the fray against your main candidate. Actively quell rebel candidates, they can be assuaged with other things such that they don’t cut into the votes of the main candidate.
   
2. Don’t depend on a local leader to choose the candidates. In Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda chose 70 of the 90 candidates. This might have been done to ensure that he does not have a tough time after the elections. He was confident that Congress would win but failed to take into account the dissident factor.
   
3. In almost 17 assembly segments, Congress dissident candidate + Official candidate votes outnumber the winning BJP candidate vote. Had there been no dissidents, Congress would have got at least 17 more seats taking it to 54 seats, close to exit poll predictions.
   
4. Don’t be a bully. Don’t assume you have won before the final vote has been counted. Behave like a sane organization that does not take anything for granted.
   
5. Understand ground realities and concentrate on being united. The very public spat between Kumari Shelja and Bhupinder Singh Hooda did Congress in in Haryana.
   
6. Respect your alliance partners.
   
7. Don’t let the narrative that Rahul Gandhi has arrived and his charisma will take you over the finish line lull you into complacency. Rahul Gandhi does not have the backing of a strong grass root organization like the RSS. Most Congressmen are opportunistic leaders.

After the defeat in Haryana, there must have been relief in the Uddhav and Sharad Pawar Camp. The Congress had turned into a bully in Maharashtra.

The Congress would be well advised to project Uddhav Thackeray as the next CM. That will help the alliance. The reasons for this are;

• Everyone knows that Uddhav has been wronged by his own party men and also by BJP.
• Everyone acknowledges that Uddhav did a good job in the two and half years that he was in the seat.
• Everyone knows that he is the victim of betrayal.

Therefore, there is a huge sympathy factor backing Uddhav. If Congress fails to cash this sympathy factor, then it will be repeat of Haryana in Maharashtra.

One can only hope that good sense prevails and adequate lessons are learnt from the Haryana debacle.

And yes, it is a big lesson for Rahul Gandhi. He should not be cocksure of victories and he still needs to work on his pitch to the voters. The pitch to the voters can not be same across the country. Issues that are relevant in Kerala and Karnataka may not be relevant in Haryana and vice-versa.