India blames Rahul Gandhi’s three key mistakes for Congress’s loss in Maharashtra

The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) defeat in the Maharashtra assembly elections is now impacting the INDIA bloc. The first indication came when the Trinamool Congress (TMC) skipped a meeting of the bloc called by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The TMC explained that its leaders were occupied with a national executive meeting in Kolkata. However, given their awareness of Parliament’s opening day, their absence was notably conspicuous.

No Need for Explanation on Maharashtra

A senior TMC leader told News18, “Trinamool secured a decisive victory in all six assembly bypoll seats. Besides the BJP, we also faced competition from two INDIA bloc parties, Congress and CPM, which fielded candidates in every constituency. Since we don’t share an electoral alliance with any bloc party, this isn’t a matter we need to address.”

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The situation escalated when TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee suggested that party chief Mamata Banerjee should lead the INDIA bloc.

What’s causing the frustration? What went wrong? What key mistakes by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi do allies believe have affected the bloc?

THE THREE KEY MISTAKES

Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of Veer Savarkar became a contentious issue, drawing objections from Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP leader Sharad Pawar. They believe this stance damaged their poll prospects and bolstered the BJP’s “divide and conquer” narrative. Despite warnings that it could backfire, Gandhi persisted with his remarks.

Caste survey: Several allies felt the Congress failed to effectively challenge the BJP’s narrative that a Congress-led government would abolish reservations. This rhetoric, they fear, could harm allies like the TMC, Samajwadi Party (SP), and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in upcoming state elections.

Criticism of the PM for alleged crony capitalism: Many allies believed this approach would be ineffective and had advised Gandhi against pursuing it, but he chose to ignore their concerns.

In fact, sources indicate that even some members of Gandhi’s circle advised against the “Constitution in danger” narrative. However, Gandhi persisted, viewing it as a crucial issue.

Many now view this “stubbornness” as the factor that has harmed the allies.

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