Like an Ostrich, the Congress leadership seems to have started keeping its eyes closed with what’s happening at the state or panchayat/municipal level elections, while just eyeing on the Prime Minister’s chair. On one hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making inroads to South India, and on the other the Congress is shrinking to Delhi from a national presence. An old saying goes on to say that stagnation is a sign before death. It is a matter of concern for many who hail from a freedom fighters family, believe in a secular country and a peace loving society.  

The Municipal or Panchayat elections are often contested on local issues like electricity, water, roads, garbage, etc., and more often on a caste or community issue. If the state's big leaders go into the election campaign, then that is a big thing. If the president of the regional party campaigned, then the matter is still understood, but if the national-level leaders get to the campaign, a lot is at stake for the party.

The local Telengana people were surprised to witness an extremely high profile campaign by national leaders and coverage by national media from Delhi on the recently conducted municipal polls of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). BJP is primarily seen as a north Indian party, which rammed into Telangana, capitalising on the collapse of the Congress party and getting a sizeable number of seats this time. The BJP campaigners were led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and included party president J P Nadda and other high-profile campaigners like UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. In fact many of the local people were confused with the campaigns as to be for the Parliament elections.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the BJP, saying, "it seems like we are electing a prime minister ... only Trump is left to campaign". But at the end of the day, the polling results matter. And, the message has gone aloud, that BJP is seriously making all efforts to reach the last man and is a pan India Party. 

In 2014, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was elected to power for the first time on the separate Telangana card, although the creation of the state was more due to Congress president and UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi. The TRS and Congress were then together but once the new state was created KCR smartly parted ways with the grand old party.

KCR gave impetus to family rule with his son K T Rama Rao running the government and the popular belief is that he will soon become the chief minister. His daughter K Kavitha became an MP (and after losing the polls became an MLC) while nephew Harish Rao became a minister. In the long run, KCR may vouch for a bigger role, allying with like -minded parties to form a national front to oppose the BJP. It is believed that MIM – which has a strong hold in Hyderabad city and contested the municipal poll, could also be an ally of the TRS for the national front.

The municipal polls have given TRS 61 seats (which is much less than the 99 it won last time). The BJP which won 4 seats in the last elections is now up to 49. The TRS now does have enough strength to elect a city mayor.
What is worrisome for the TRS is that the BJP could well use its core campaign revolving around Hindu interests to battle it out in Telangana in the coming months. Muslims comprise 40 per cent of the electorate of Hyderabad. BJP wants Hyderabad to be named as Bhagyanagar after the famous Bhagyalakshmi temple that stands on the edge of the Charminar.

Simultaneously, the BJP has swept the Rajasthan Local Body Elections of the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad held in 21 districts of Rajasthan. Till Thursday morning, results were declared for 4,051 seats of 4,371 panchayat samitis, out of which BJP won in 1,989, Congress in 1,852 and independents bagged 422. Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantric Party (RLP) won 56 seats, CPIM 16 and BSP 3.

The BJP showed its strength in the Zila Parishad elections and managed to win by a large margin from Congress. While the BJP won 353 seats in the Zila Parishad polls, the Congress is far behind with only 252 seats, of the total 636 seats. After the Panchayati Raj polls, elections for 43 nagar palikas and seven nagar parishads are scheduled on December 11. Here, a total of 14.32 lakh voters will choose from 7,249 candidates, who are vying for 1,775 wards. 

None other than Congress is to be blamed for these debacles owing to its internal bickering. The absence of former PCC president Sachin Pilot’s posters and pictures from party’s vision document released recently left many of the Congress workers surprised and shocked.  While the document carried the pictures of CM Ashok Gehlot, new PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasara and state Urban development minister Shanti Dhariwal, there was no picture or mention of former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot who was recently stripped of his portfolios after he revolted against Gehlot and camped in Delhi with his MLAs. Whereas, Pilot was assigned the task to campaign in MP bypolls and the Bihar Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, senior Congress workers in Rajasthan feel that the national leadership is creating an impression that all is okay in the desert state and there has been a patch-up. However, things are not at all okay between the two factions and absence of Pilot’s pictures and posters reveal the same story.

The sorry state of the Congress in the latest Panchayati Raj elections and Zilla Parishad elections seem to help the Sachin Pilot camp as they are eyeing political appointments in Rajasthan, which are likely to happen soon. Ajay Maken, in-charge of Congress in Rajasthan mentioned that both the factions will be taken care of during appointments in the upcoming Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). 

In the absence of firebrand leaders like Mamta Bannerjee, troubleshooters alike Pranab Mukherjee, youth campaigners resembling Maninder Singh Bitta, experienced leaders like Sharad Pawar, political advisors comparable to Ahmed Patel, the Congress party is in shambles. In Rajasthan, Congress lost for ignoring a mass leader like Sachin Pilot. Whereas, in Telengana, the younger brother TRS engulfed Congress, which ignored its grassroots level cadre. Unfortunately there is none to hear the pleas of a ground level party worker or for that reason to mobilise and motivate the Congress cadets. The party workers and its well-wishers are waiting for a Messiah!