NEW DELHI: The Shiv Sena (UBT) criticized the Congress party on Saturday for not addressing the status of the INDIA bloc during its recent meeting in Ahmedabad, highlighting concerns about the opposition alliance’s future ahead of upcoming state elections in Bihar, Gujarat, and West Bengal.
The criticism came through an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, which noted that the Congress only focused on its internal matters during the Ahmedabad session held on April 8-9, where senior leaders including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi addressed party workers.
“Questions are being raised about where the INDIA bloc stands after the Lok Sabha election. The Congress needed to address this in its Ahmedabad session,” the editorial stated.
“What happened to the alliance? Did it get buried in the ground or vanish into thin air? The responsibility to answer this question lies with the Congress president,” the editorial further questioned.
The Sena (UBT) expressed concern about the Congress’s electoral strategy in states where INDIA bloc partners like the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, and Trinamool Congress will be competing.
The party pointed out Congress’s poor performance in Gujarat, where it won only one seat in the Lok Sabha polls after 2014, despite holding its recent session there.
The editorial emphasized the need for Congress to strengthen its position in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, while acknowledging the party’s mixed results in Maharashtra.
“The scams of the BJP are as much responsible for this loss as the internal issues of the Congress. It has to deliberate on this,” the editorial noted regarding Congress’s defeat in Maharashtra state assembly polls.
The Sena (UBT) warned against the Congress competing with INDIA bloc partners, citing the Delhi assembly polls where both AAP and Congress faced defeat.
“If Congress uses this strategy of contesting against the INDIA bloc partners in other states, it will only help the BJP,” the party cautioned.
“We have to defeat the BJP and not our friends,” the editorial emphasized, suggesting that an alliance between Congress and AAP would have been more beneficial.
The Sena (UBT) stressed that Congress must take the lead in fighting dictatorship and address the coalition’s future direction.
