Delhi Mahila Congress chief and party spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee on Wednesday hit out at party veteran P Chidambaram for celebrating the defeat of Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi Assembly elections. Mukherjee said the Congress should be concerned about its own drubbing in Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party won 62 of the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi on Tuesday. The BJP secured eight seats while the Congress drew a blank.
“AAP won, bluff and bluster lost,” Chidambaram tweeted after the results were announced. “The people of Delhi, who are from all parts of India, have defeated the polarising, divisive and dangerous agenda of the BJP. I salute the people of Delhi who have set an example to other states that will hold their elections in 2021 and 2022.”
In response, Mukherjee asked why the Congress leader was celebrating the victory of some other party more than introspecting its own performance. “With due respect sir, just want to know - has @INCIndia outsourced the task of defeating BJP to state parties?” she asked. “If not, then why r we gloating over AAP victory rather than being concerned abt our drubbing? And if ‘yes’, then we [PCCs] might as well close shop!”
On Tuesday, Mukherjee had critiqued her own party. “We are again decimated in Delhi,” she tweeted as the results were trickling in. “Enough of introspection now, it’s time for action now. Being part of the system, I too take my share of responsibility.” She had blamed the party’s top brass for the loss. “There were inordinate delays in decision-making at the top, and lack of strategy and unity at state level,” said the daughter of Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee. “Our workers were demotivated, there was no grassroot connect.”
Another Congress leader, Jaiveer Shergill, suggested that the party should not justify defeat or find solace in BJP’s loss. Party MP Pratap Singh Bajwa pointed out that non-BJP voters had the option of either the AAP and the Congress, but they chose the former, reported Hindustan Times.
The Congress was in power in Delhi from 1998 to 2013. The party lost a major vote share after the emergence of AAP. In 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress’ vote share in Delhi was 22%. In 2015, it dropped to little over 9%. This year, the party got only 4% vote.
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