The Congress’s defeats in three Assembly polls in the Hindi heartland have given way to rumblings inside the INDIA opposition bloc, with allies pointing out how the main opposition party’s decision to fight the polls on its own led to a division of votes, benefiting the BJP.

The Congress lost the polls due to lack of a seat-sharing arrangements with other INDIA members, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said today, stressing that it is a “defeat of the Congress, not the people”. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, too, responded to the Congress defeats, suggesting that regional parties must lead the fight against BJP in areas they hold sway in.

“Congress has won Telangana. They would have won Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Some votes were cut by INDIA parties. This is the truth. We had said suggested a seat-sharing arrangement. They lost because of division of votes,” Ms Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister, said in an address to the Assembly.

“Along with ideology, you need to have a strategy,” she said, adding, “If there is a seat-sharing arrangement, BJP won’t come to power in 2024.”

The INDIA alliance of Opposition parties, she said, will work together and rectify mistakes ahead of the general election next year. “We will learn from the mistakes,” she said.

The remarks come after the Congress suffered defeats in three heartland states – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The party managed to win just one seat in Mizoram after contesting all 40. Its sole consolation is a victory in Telangana.

In this round of Assembly elections, Congress and its INDIA allies had contested separately on many seats. This, many have pointed out, led to a division in votes and benefited the BJP.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress was in talks with Akhilesh Yadav’s party, but the talks fell apart over seat-sharing. At one point, Kamal Nath, who was leading Congress’s campaign, dismissed a media query on the alliance talks, saying, “choro Akhilesh Vakhilesh”.

This remark sealed the fate of the alliance talks. “The insulting words used for Akhileshji by Kamal Nathji is the reason behind the Congress’s loss. The Congress lost because of those undignified remarks,” Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Yadav Kaka said.

Speaking about the election results, Mr Yadav said today, “This is a long battle. We have to prepare a lot to defeat a party like BJP. We have to fight their strategies with discipline.”

INDIA, he said, has to “get back where we started”. “We started on the point that we have to support the parties in the regions they are strong in. The 2024 polls will be historic. There will be change.”

As the trends pointed to Congress’s impending defeats yesterday, INDIA allies had started criticising the main opposition party’s decision not to fight the elections together.

Janata Dal-United’s KC Tyagi said the Congress “ignored other INDIA parties, but was unable to win on its own”. Kerala Chief Minister and CPM leader Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was necessary to fight together while taking on the BJP in the Hindi heartland.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut said the outcome of Madhya Pradesh polls would have been different had the Congress shared some seats with other constituents of INDIA bloc.

A senior leader from a major Opposition party told news agency PTI that it appeared that Congress was waiting for the poll results for greater bargaining powers within the bloc.

“There have been no meetings of the INDIA bloc in a long time. The Congress did not want to meet. Perhaps they were waiting for the results to have greater bargaining power,” he said.

But with its gamble not paying off, the main Opposition party is now on the backfoot before the next meeting of INDIA bloc this Wednesday. Ms Banerjee, sources said, is unlikely to attend the meeting.  

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not attend the next INDIA alliance coordination meeting on Wednesday. Ms Banerjee, who said the Congress lost the recent state elections due to a lack of seat-sharing arrangements with other INDIA members, has a pre-scheduled programme in north Bengal on that day.

“I am not aware about this (the meeting) and I have some programs scheduled for north Bengal, if I had information about this then I would not have gone to north Bengal,” she said.

Her party Trinamool Congress may also skip the meeting, sources said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge yesterday called for the next meeting of the opposition bloc even as it was handed big defeats by the BJP in three states. The meeting is being held after a gap of three months since the last one in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.

The meeting is expected to chalk out plans for next year’s Lok Sabha election.

The BJP swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, handing a shattering defeat to the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland.

The only proverbial silver lining for the Congress was Telangana where it ousted the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the state assembly elections – billed by many as a semi-final before next year’s general elections.

The Congress, which put the Opposition alliance in a state of limbo as it focused on the state elections, received flak from the INDIA bloc allies who blamed the party’s decision not to fight the elections together.

The Bengal Chief Minister, earlier in the day, said the Congress decision to fight the polls on its  led to a “division of votes”.

“Congress has won Telangana. They would have won Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Some votes were cut by INDIA parties. This is the truth. We had said suggested a seat-sharing arrangement. They lost because of division of votes,” Ms Banerjee said in an address to the West Bengal Assembly.

Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said, “The attempt to bring everyone together should gain momentum. It should be reflected in the actions and not in their words.”

“Ultimately, everybody is fighting unitedly against the autocratic BJP. Not much time is left and hence, we should utilise the time which is left. Ignoring the self-interests, we need to work for the interests of the people. Keeping aside the political ego, people who are strong and competent in their regions should be given the chance to fight. This will benefit the people,” he added.

Yesterday, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah taunted the Congress for belatedly remembering the INDIA alliance: “On December 6, the Congress chief has invited some INDIA alliance leaders for lunch. They recalled the INDIA alliance after three months. Let’s see”.

The Congress, a day after the drubbing, said it would introspect what happened in the two states it held – Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh – and Madhya Pradesh.

Mr Kharge, according to the sources, said, “Mistakes have taken place and we will make course corrections”. “Over confidence in some states and refusal to adhere to proper candidates and campaign cost us in the last few days of the elections,” he added.

Several opposition leaders, however, asserted that the results will not impact the INDIA bloc, stressing the bloc needs to work harder for the Lok Sabha polls.

“Victories and losses happen. We should learn from the defeat, as well as from those who have won. India has to be one, it is for everyone, and we need to strengthen the country,” National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah said.

“INDIA has to get back where we started,” said Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. “We started on the point that we have to support the parties in the regions they are strong in. The 2024 polls will be historic. There will be change.”

A video showing former PM HD Deve Gowda’s daughter-in-law asking a biker to go and die under a bus, and flaunting the fact that her car is worth Rs 1.5 crore, has sparked outrage online. Bhavani Revanna was caught on camera screaming at the biker after he allegedly collided with her car and damaged it while trying to overtake the vehicle.

On Friday, Ms Revanna was travelling in her hometown Saligrama in Udipi, around 400 km from Bengaluru, when a biker hit her car, a Toyota Vellfire. While the details of who was at fault are not clear, many on social media have slammed Ms Revanna for abusing her privilege.

There has been no reaction from Ms Revanna, her family or the Janata Dal (Secular) so far.

In the video, Ms Revanna can be heard telling the biker: “If you want to die, go die under a bus. Why were you driving on the wrong side?”

The Janata Dal (Secular) chief’s daughter-in-law is also heard using foul language and repeatedly stating that her Vellfire costs Rs 1.5 crore.

A video shows former prime minister #HDDeveGowda‘s daughter-in-law & #JDS leader #BhavaniRevanna yelling at villagers after a two-wheeler allegedly damaged her pricey Toyota Vellfire.#Karnataka #Mysuru #RoadAccident #HDRevanna pic.twitter.com/I4GRvgoGVQ

— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) December 4, 2023

“Will you pay Rs 50 lakh for repairing it,” she asks the motorcyclist, before chiding a bystander who tries to intervene and pacify her.

Reacting to the video, posted on X, most people have called Ms Revanna “arrogant” and a “prima-donna”. A few have also supported her, though, and said the biker should not have been riding on the wrong side of the road.

Ms Revanna’s husband, HD Revanna, is an MLA and her sons, Prajwal and Suraj Revanna, are an MP and MLC, respectively.