Why Congress needs to recognize its political strength, acumen

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party may have secured a victory in the recent Delhi Assembly polls, however, the real story has been the emergence of Congress which has seemingly finally recognised its political strength and acumen to defeat its long-time nemesis, Arvind Kejriwal.

Two incidents over the past few days, the defeat of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and the resignation of N Biren Singh as chief minister of Manipur have revealed that the grand old party still commands the political acumen to ensure major political events in the country.

By fighting a strong election in Delhi for just one week, the grand old party has been able to severely dent the political career of Kejriwal.

BJP won 48 seats and Aam Aadmi Party was restricted to 22 seats in the polls for the 70-member Delhi Legislative Assembly. This was possible only after the Congress candidates ensured the defeat of AAP legislators in about 15 constituencies by eating into its vote bank.

Secondly, it was the Congress' threat to bring in a no-confidence motion against Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh that forced his resignation. The possibility of BJP's rebel MLAs voting in tandem with the opposition was a chance that the saffron leadership did not want to risk, hence the prompt resignation.

Senior party leaders believe that after these developments Congress needs to believe in itself think long-term and evolve its political strategy with a positive perspective.

"The Congress is a strong force yet, the party leadership needs to invest in the right people and formulation of better political strategy," sources said.

The refrain amongst Delhi Congress leaders is that the party needs to take on its political opponents in various states and not give its political space to regional players.

The sentiment echoed by Congress leaders across various states is that the grand old party needs to stop playing second fiddle to regional parties. Most of these leaders want the party to reclaim the political stature that Congress deserves, being the outfit that ruled the nation and the majority of its states for over five decades.

Unless the party begins to think in terms of improving its 2029 Lok Sabha positioning, there will not be a great future for the grand old party.