How a toxic poll campaign came back to bite Congress in MP

{KAMAL NATH AND DIGVIJIYA SINGH} AT THE HELM IN HEAVY DEFEAT

This autumn was a time rich with promise for the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

The state, the largest of the three provinces headed for assembly elections, appeared prime for a change. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been in the saddle for 18 of the last 20 years and suffered from internal factionalism in a state where it has powerful leaders in every region. There were allegations of corruption. And signs of anti-incumbency appeared to dog chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Most importantly, the Congress had just stormed to a historic victory in Karnataka, running a rooted, energetic campaign that managed to stitch a diverse social coalition and unite marginalised castes and communities, displacing an unpopular BJP government. The party believed that Madhya Pradesh, with its large constituents of farmers, Dalits and tribals, was there for the taking.

Inexplicably, however, former chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh chose a different tack, said Congress leaders aware of the details.

The two men who helmed the campaign in the state, turned away from running the kind of issues-based grassroots campaign that won the Congress the biggest victory in a generation, and poured their energies into an acerbic, negative pitch that spent precious campaign hours attacking senior BJP leaders, and even allies - time that could have been used to fine-tune the party's outreach on the ground.

On Sunday, the results were there for all to see.

The Congress slumped to its worst performance in a decade as the BJP soared to its highest-ever vote share.

The BJP won 163 of the state's 230 assembly seats, leaving behind the Congress a poor runner-up at 66.