Congress will take stock and correct the mistakes: Janardhan Dwivedi

The Congress party has been routed in the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi state elections, with the BJP reaping most of the gains while the Aam Aadmi Party debuted in spectacular fashion in Delhi. Though the Congress is holding its own in Chhattisgarh, the results in the other three states have left India’s grand old party with nowhere to hide. Yet senior Congress leaders believe that these elections cannot be seen as a barometer for national elections that will be held next year. [caption id=“attachment_1274989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sheila Dikshit lost to Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. PTI[/caption] “We don’t see it as a semi-final,” senior Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi said in an interview with NDTV. “Issues are different at national level election and assembly elections.” But even Dwivedi had to admit that the Congress needs to seriously reassess their current electoral strategy and figure out what when so dramatically wrong for it. “Before (Rajasthan) elections, there were people in the party that said we will not even cross 50 (seats) in the state. This is not good,” Dwivedi said. “Agree that we were making mistakes in organisational level. In Rajasthan, we spoke in different voices. Whomsoever thought it was apt, kept speaking on behalf of party because of which a lot of miscommunication happened.” The Delhi defeat was probably the hardest for the Congress to swallow, given that the Sheila Dikshit led-government was attempting to win a record fourth consecutive election and had won a comfortable, albeit shrinking majority in the previous election. However, the Congress has not only been reduced to the third party in Delhi thanks to the AAP, Dikshit ended up losing her seat to Arvind Kejriwal as well. “In Delhi, we made mistakes even at the time of distributing tickets,” Dwivedi said. “We will take stock and correct the mistakes.” Despite AAP profiting from the anti-Congress feeling in the nation’s capital, Dwivedi called the party’s debut debut a positive development for democracy in India and a “wake-up call to all major political parties”. AAP is projected to get around 27 votes in Delhi. However, the Congress ruled out any immediate attempts to partner with the AAP to keep the BJP out of power, with Dwivedi saying they won’t “jump to conclusions so fast”. Asked about the position of Prime Minister in the wake of these defeats, Dwivedi was unequivocal. “Manmohan Singh will remain prime minister. Does it seem to you like Rahul Gandhi is anxious to be prime minister?”