Lok Sabha election results 2019 | Writing on the wall for senior Congress leaders in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh?

A day after the Congress debacle on May 23, senior party leaders converged to attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet. The meeting was convened to take stock of what caused the Grand Old Party’s second worst defeat in its 134-year long history (the first being delivered just five years ago).

Before the meeting had started, reports suggested that Congress President Rahul Gandhi had offered his resignation, which was rejected. The prospect was reportedly rejected again by the CWC during the meeting, where Gandhi was also praised for the campaign, according to reports.

What also reportedly occurred during the meeting was Gandhi lashing out at senior leaders of the party, including newly-appointed chief ministers Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh) and Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) for putting their sons above the party. According to reports, Gandhi was not ready to give tickets to their sons during the Lok Sabha polls.

Gehlot’s son Vaibhav was defeated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Jodhpur. On the other hand, Nath’s son Nakul won the Chhindwara constituency. Nakul proved to be an exception in an election where even Congress bastion Guna— which withstood the Narendra Modi ‘wave’ in 2014 to put its representative, Jyotiraditya Scindia, back in Parliament— was won by the BJP.

It was reportedly after Scindia said local leaders need to be promoted that Gandhi had made the comment. According to observers, it might be an indication of how things might stack up against senior party leaders in the coming days.

Stability first in Madhya Pradesh 

The focus in Madhya Pradesh, according to Congress leaders in the state, is to stabilise the existing state government first. "We need to make sure that the state government is safe and stable," a Congress leader in the state told Moneycontrol.

The leader added that in the introspection that will follow, "we will have to admit that we made promises during the assembly polls which were not possible to complete before the national elections".

"Moreover, Scindia's assessment that local leaders should be promoted needs to be taken seriously," the leader said.

While a reshuffle of the top Congress leadership in the state might be in order, the larger question that observers and party workers seem to be asking is what happens to leaders like Nath and Scindia.

Scindia was defeated by former aide Krishna Pal Singh Yadav by a margin of over 1,25,549 votes in Guna. Yadav reportedly switched loyalties to the BJP because he was denied ticket for a bypoll.

Scindia’s troubles, however, do not end there. Made the Congress in-charge for Western Uttar Pradesh, the party managed to win only one— the family bastion of Rae Bareli— seat in the state.

The other stalwart who could face music in MP is CM Kamal Nath, who had offered to resign as the chief of the party’s state unit. Observers state Nath could be spared, thanks to his son’s win and the instability of the state government.

Daggers out in Rajasthan? 

In Rajasthan, another state where the Congress had formed a government after last year's Assembly polls, reports suggest that senior state leaders have spoken out against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Cooperative minister Udaylal Anjana told The Indian Express that Gehlot would have worked more in other constituencies "had he been free".

Ramesh Chand Meena, minister for Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, said there should be an "introspection" on what Gandhi has said in the CWC meeting, and that the "defeat should not be taken lightly".

After Congress staked claim to form the government in the state, lobbying for the CM's post had ensued between Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, who had been handed the responsibility of Rajasthan before the Assembly polls.

This had given rise to reports of factionalism within the party, and observers state that the wipe-out in Lok Sabha polls will lead to more jostling between factions led by Gehlot and Pilot.

Pilot, a two-time Member of Parliament (MP) and a minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, had refocused his attention to strengthening the grassroots-level support to the party and reaching out to the youth in urban regions. This had helped the party during the state polls, but does not seem to have reflected during the general election.

Apart from statements made by state ministers, reports have also stated that Rajasthan agriculture minister had quit after the Lok Sabha drubbing. This development, however, was not confirmed by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).