Lok Sabha Elections: Why does Congress expect good results from the North as well as the South?

Power base in the South

It is worth noting that in 2014, when the Congress and the UPA government were rejected in most places in the country, it was the southern states that saved its honor. At that time, the Congress, which contested 464 seats, got a total of 44 seats, out of which it got 9 seats from Karnataka and 8 from Kerala, while it got two seats in the newly formed state of Telangana, while its account was not even opened in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. At the same time, in 2019, the Congress contested 421 seats and got 52 seats. The party got one seat from Karnataka, while it got 15 seats from Kerala. Andhra Pradesh disappointed it last time too and it got 8 seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Telangana. This time, while the Congress is hoping to repeat its performance in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it is eyeing Telangana and Karnataka, where it has a government in both places. The Congress believes that it will get better results this time on the basis of its government fulfilling the promises made to the public. It hopes to increase its seats from here.

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Congress hopes for better performance in Uttar Pradesh

This time Congress is eyeing those states where it could not even open its account last time or its presence was limited to one or two seats. In states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Congress was facing continuous drought for the last two times. Whereas in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Maharashtra it was limited to one or two seats. Last time it did not get a single seat in Haryana. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana and Chhattisgarh are considered to be such states from where the North has high hopes this time. Congress, which is fighting under the banner of Mahavikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, feels that it is going to perform well this time. In fact, it got two seats from here in 2014 and one seat last time. Similarly, the party is hoping to open its account in Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan. In Haryana, the party is considering the anger of the farmers, the dissatisfaction of the female wrestler and the anger of the Jats as an environment in its favor. Congress believes that the dissatisfaction of the people towards the double engine government will help it overcome. By the way, Congress is also hopeful from UP and Madhya Pradesh, where it got one seat each last time. In UP, it is competing with SP. In Bihar, Congress is fighting RJD, it feels that the way Nitish Kumar destabilized the government there by changing sides just before the elections, the sympathy of the people on the ground is with the RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan. Similar expectations are from Jharkhand, where the Bharat Gathbandhan feels that it will benefit from the sympathy arising from the arrest of CM Hemant Soren.

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Congress is confident of its strategy

If Congress is expecting better results this time, then it has its own strategy behind it. The party feels that it has contested the elections with full strategy and preparation. The party believes that this time it not only went among the people with big issues like inflation, unemployment, saving the Constitution, but it also tried to contest the elections by keeping the real issues related to the public at the center during the entire election, it did not deviate from the issues. The party believes that the last two times Congress kept swinging between the agenda set by BJP and PM Modi and was seen in defensive mode, whereas this time it set the agenda and PM Modi and the ruling party had to respond. A big reason behind this confidence of Congress is also believed to be its own manifesto, where it went among the people relying on five social justice and 25 guarantees.