Defeat puts sharp focus on failure of Kamal, Digvijaya

Over-confidence, a campaign out of touch with ground reality, poor candidate selection, and complete centralisation of all decision-making by two state leaders Congress insiders in Madhya Pradesh have put state unit chief Kamal Nath, and senior leader Digvijaya Singh, both of whom ran the Madhya Pradesh campaign, in the dock over the party's massive elections defeat.

- Ranjan

In the results declared on Sunday, despite a roughly 18-year anti-incumbency against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP won 163 seats, its best performance in a decade, and the Congress was reduced to just 66 in the 230-member assembly.

Though there was a general sense among experts that 2023 presented the Congress with a chance to make a serious dent in heartland state, people in the party said that Nath and Digvijaya completely failed to read the mood of the people, lulling themselves into the belief that there was public anger against the BJP, and that this would be enough to see the Congress through.

Leaders said it became increasingly clear that while the Congress made a slew of promises such as a farm loan waiver of 22 lakh, or gas cylinders for 2500, these were not cogently explained to party workers, who in turn failed in their political communication during door-to-door campaigning.

"We made so many promises, but even our workers were not aware of all of them. It was left to the social media team to publicise the manifesto, and the campaign was totally dependent on just Nath and Digvijaya," a senior leader said, asking not to be named.

A second leader said that other than public statements by the two leaders, there was no presence on the ground because the organisation hadn't been built over a fiveyear period, or workers that did exist were not enthused. "Our workers were just not visible, and only BJP workers could be seen on the ground," a second leader said.

A third party leader said Nath's elections strategy was "beyond comprehension" because the party could have learnt from a successful Karnataka campaign, where, like in Madhya Pradesh, the incumbent BJP faced allegations of corruption.