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Katakana polls: BJP, Cong, other parties high voltage campaign to end today

Katakana polls

The high voltage campaign for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka will come to an end today (Monday) as all three major political parties in the state — BJP, Congress and JD(S) — are all out to woo voters by making their last pitch.

As part of the campaign  for the elections to the 224-member Assembly, “Government with full majority” seemed to be the favourite slogan of the leaders of all the political parties, as they stressed on getting a clear mandate to form a strong and stable government in the state.

While BJP’s campaign largely centralised with the focus being on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national issues and programmes or achievements of the union government coupled with a few from the state, the Congress’s by and large focused on local issues and was also run by its local leaders initially.

PM Modi participated in 18 mega public meetings and six roadshows so far, as part of the campaigns and visited the state seven times since January, to unveil several government schemes and projects, and addressed numerous meetings of beneficiaries of the government’s various schemes.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah too has extensively travelled the state, campaigning and strategising for the polls.

The JD(S) led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda was seen putting all its strength into campaigning, wanting to emerge as “king” and not “kingmaker”, hoping to get the required numbers to form a government on its own.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday urged “nationalistic people” to unite and make the supporters of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) bite the dust in the forthcoming elections in Karnataka.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be campaigning in Karnataka with Rahul Gandhi joining her for a joint public meeting in Shivaji Nagar, today on the last day of campaign.

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Suvendu Adhikari blamed the overconfidence of Bengal BJP leaders for the election defeat

Suvendu Adhikari & Mamata Banerjee

On Sunday, the leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly & BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said that the BJP lost because of several leaders’ overconfidence that the party would get over 170 seats.

There was a party meeting held in Chandipur area of Purba Medinipur district. In that meeting, Mr Adhikari said that this smugness and overconfidence led to lack of understanding of the emerging ground situation.

The TMC turncoat said, “As we did well in the first two poll phases in these parts of assembly segments, many of our leaders became smug and overconfident. They started believing that the BJP will secure 170-180 seats in the elections, but they did not do the groundwork. This cost us dearly.”

He said that continuing work at the ground level was equally important as setting up targets, which was realistic but needed hard work.

Also Read: Major setback to BJP in north Bengal: Ganga Prasad with 7 other leaders switched to TMC

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh reacted to Mr Adhikari’s claims. He said, “Suvendu has conveniently forgotten the slew of social welfare projects and a spree of development by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and the mandate against BJP heavyweights’ sustained campaign against the CM and TMC.”

Mr Ghosh is the state general secretary of Trinamool congress. He said, “The BJP was living in a fool’s paradise as many of their leaders predicted that the saffron camp will cross 200 seats. Why he is finding fault with others? Did not Suvendu also boast repeatedly that his party will get 180 seats at least? Actually, they do not know the pulse of Bengal, Trinamool does.”

Also Read: Evolution of Anti defection laws in India- an overview

Few days back Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been informed that her government was ready for bypolls to seven Assembly constituencies and two Rajya Sabha seats.

A six-member delegation of TMC MPs met ECI in Delhi, demanding that bypolls be held at the earliest on account of fewer Covid-19 cases. The comments came on a day after this meeting.

Mamata Banerjee told media at the state secretariat, “ECI had asked us if we could conduct by-elections to the Rajya Sabha. We told them that we were ready for Rajya Sabha elections and the seven Assembly seats.” She further said that the Covid-19 situation in West Bengal was under control and elections could be held.

Also Read: TMC vs BJP-Giving too much attention on criticizing a non-existential opponent can cause problem

In order to continue as the Chief Minister, the TMC supremo needs to get elected as an MLA by November 5. Ms Banerjee is likely to contest from Bhabanipur seat which has been left vacant by her party leader and state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.

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Block level election in UP: Final tally of BJP & allies stood at 635 out of 825

election in UP

State election commission of Uttar Pradesh declared that 349 candidates were elected unopposed for the block chairman posts. Block level election forms an important segment at local level of elections in India.

Meanwhile, BJP has claimed that as many as 334 candidates supported by the party have won without polling. As the counting continued, BJP and its allies reportedly won 635 seats out of 825. Various reports suggested that candidates supported by BJP have won all 8 seats in Lucknow and Kannauj. It was also reported that candidates supported by BJP also won 14 seats in Agra.

On Friday, a total of 187 candidates took back their nomination papers. For the rest 476 seats, polling was scheduled to be held on Saturday.

The block level elections are not contested on party symbols. But, BJP claimed that in over 334 seats candidates supported by it won unopposed. Final tally of BJP and allies as reported on evening of Saturday stood at 635.

Also Read: A peek into by-polls in India-Can there be a way around them?

Samajwadi party led by Akhilesh Yadav has alleged that BJP has been using government machinery to influence the block level polls in its favour.

During the filing of the nomination papers for the block level polls, violence was reported from various places across the state. In a case of violence in Lakhimpur, a woman’s saree was yanked by two men during nomination filing.

The state election commission stated that 1778 candidates filed their nomination out of which 68 had their candidature cancelled due to discrepancies in nomination papers. Out of the remaining 1710 candidates, 187 took back their nomination papers. Hence, 1523 candidates remained in the fray.

Also Read: UP and Punjab can pose a challenge for election commission in 2022

In the total 826 blocks, elections were to be held on 825 chairman seats by more than 75000 ward members. These ward members were elected in April.

In Gonda, the Mujhena block has been kept out of block election as its term is till early 2022.

Candidates with support of BJP won 6 seats in Moradabad, three seats in Bhadohi,15 seats in Sitapur and 14 seats in Hardoi. The candidates with support from the saffron party also won 8 seats in Muzaffarnagar, and 12 out of 22 seats in Azamgarh, which is known as a stronghold of SP & BSP.

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Congress takes jibe at Jyotiraditya Scindia on being appointed as the civil aviation minister

Jyotiraditya Scindia

On Friday, Congress’ youth wing chief Srinivas B V took a jibe at BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on being appointed as the civil aviation minister. Srinivas took a potshot at Scindia with a meme showing Air India mascot telling Scindia “we are both for sale.” It drew a sharp reaction from BJP which said that it reflected the opposition party’s frustration. The meme was first shared from the social media account of the Congress’ Madhya Pradesh unit. Gradually, the meme gained a lot of traction after it was shared by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief.

Scindia’s appointment as aviation minister has brought hopes to MP of better connectivity. His aunt and MP cabinet minister Yashodhara Raje tweeted, “Jyotiraditya seated on the post where Dada (Madhavrao) ‘took flight! Warm greetings…”

Also Read: UP and Punjab can pose a challenge for election commission in 2022

Srinivas BV shared the meme which showed Air India Mascot ‘Maharaja’ telling Scindia, “Aiyye Maharaj, hum dono bikau hain (Come Maharaja, we are both for sale).” A caption was added to the meme stating, “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.”

Madhya Pradesh Congress shared the meme last night and wrote, “Bikau ko bechne ka kaam mila, Gaddari ka use kuch yu inaam mila (One who is up for sale has been given the job of selling, got a reward for being a traitor).”

Also Read: Congress can possibly get a new leader in parliament- probable place card for Rahul Gandhi

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia hit out at Srinivas’ post. Bhatia said that the Congress stooping to such levels to target a “young and enterprising” leader like Scindia shows its frustration. He slammed the Congress for using the term ‘Bikau.’ Bhatia said that this comes from people who are out on bail on corruption charges. There were also numerous other social media posts taking a dig at Scindia. There were also many others in which the Congress was slammed for targeting him.

In March last year, Scindia (50) resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. This move triggered a chain of events which finally culminated in the collapse of the KamalNath government just 15 months after its formation. That paved the way for the saffron party to assume power which it lost towards the end of 2018. On joining BJP, Scindia was made a Rajya Sabha member, while Shivraj Singh Chouhan came back as the chief minister.

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With 67 wins, BJP gets sweeping victory in local body elections in UP

elections in UP

In the local body elections in Uttar Pradesh, BJP clinched a massive victory. The results of the local body election in UP comes as a big setback for Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. In the zila panchayat chairperson election, 75 seats were at stake. Such local body elections form an important category of elections in India.  BJP won 67 seats in the election. Samajwadi party led by Mr Yadav party won only five seats. Jansatta Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal, and an independent candidate won a seat each.

Also Read: A peek into by-polls in India-Can there be a way around them?

In the same election in 2016, Mr Yadav-led Samajwadi party took 60 of the 75 seats. Political experts asserted that the local body polls are unlikely to be any indicator of which direction the wind will blow in the assembly election next year. The 2022 assembly election will serve as an ultimate test for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of BJP.

On Saturday, Samajwadi Party workers held a street protest alleging rigging in the local body election in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad. They were met with police baton charge. On the win, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The glorious victory of BJP in the UP District Panchayat elections is the blessing given by the people for development, public service and rule of law. The credit for this goes to the policies of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the tireless hard work of the party workers.”

UP BJP Chief Swatantra Dev Singh stated, “The BJP has won 67 out of 75 district panchayat chairperson seats. We will win 2022 assembly elections also.”

Also Read: UP and Punjab can pose a challenge for election commission in 2022

Among the winners, twenty-one BJP candidates & one from Samajwadi Party got elected unopposed. Uttar Pradesh has around 3,000 zila panchayat members. This election was to choose the chairpersons of Zila Parishads for the state’s 75 districts.

Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati, did not fight the local body polls.With 11 MLAs expelled, & 4 UP chiefs in 3 years, Mayawati’s BSP appears to be imploding.

Also Read: AIADMK & DMK gear up for face-off in local body elections in TN

In local body elections in UP, leaders getting elected unopposed is not new. Half of the 60 seats that Samajwadi Party won in the zila panchayat chairperson polls were elected unopposed in 2016. Akhilesh Yadav was the then Chief Minister of UP. After one year, BJP swept the state in the assembly election.

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Audio clip of Vasundhara Raje went viral; hints at her floating a new party

Vasundhara raje

A purported audio clip of Vasundhara Raje has gone viral on Friday, after a 22-year-old resignation letter penned by Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia went viral recently. In the audio clip, the former Chief Minister can be heard recognising the members of ‘Vasundhara Raje Samarthak Manch’ as her own people.

Raje can also be heard in the clip directing the forum’s district president Tarachand Sharma to continue running the platform.

The audio clip established that Raje is directly associated with the activities of the Manch. Inside political circles, this leakage of the audio-file is being seen as a retaliatory move by Vasundhra’s critics. Such critics are from the people in RSS lobby who are angry that a 22-year-old letter of Poonia was leaked last week to embarrass the state BJP president.

Also See: Arguments over Central Vista project

The infighting in the Rajasthan BJP is being linked to the leakage of the Vasundhara Raje audio clip. Over the past several months, Vasundhara loyalists have formed the ‘Manch’. They have also demanded that Raje be declared as the party’s chief ministerial face for the 2023 elections.

The ‘Vasundhara Raje Samarthak Manch’ is a platform being run on social media for the past few months demanding Raje to be announced as the CM face for 2023. But, up till now, only the followers of Raje were seen voicing their opinions on social media. In this regard, the latest audio clip has raised questions about whether Raje herself is backing this platform.

At the beginning of 2021, many eyebrows were raised when the list of presidents of this forum was announced for each district of the state. That gave rise to speculation that Raje is floating her own political party.

Over the next few months, Raje was silent over the doubts. That had put an end to the discussions. But, her followers still continue to declare her as the CM face for the 2023 elections.

Also Read: Students who lost their parents to Covid19 will get free coaching and accommodation in Kota

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Raje continued doing philanthropic work through this forum. It has been running an entity parallel to the state BJP unit.

Upon the release of this audio clip, silent whispers in the political corridors are once again hinting at Raje planning to go solo in the upcoming Assembly elections.

There has been no response from the Raje camp. District president Tarachand Sharma has said that Raje was speaking about continuing the philanthropic work, and there is nothing more to it.

A few days after a three-page resignation letter written by Poonia 22 years back went viral on social media, the audio clip has gone viral. Satish Poonia is presently in Delhi holding discussions with senior party leaders on a range of issues concerning the party in Rajasthan.

Ever since the appointment of Poonia as the state BJP President, factionalism is running deep into the saffron party in Rajasthan. It is evinced as Raje’s posters were removed from state BJP headquarters.

Raje has been maintaining a distance with the party office. She has even stayed away from the campaign for the recent bypolls.

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Major setback to BJP in north Bengal: Ganga Prasad with 7 other leaders switched to TMC

tmc

In north Bengal, BJP faced a major setback. On Monday, Alipurduar district BJP president Ganga Prasad Sharma joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata in the presence of party leaders-Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Mukul Roy.

GP Sharma had said that he was changing parties as working for the people was becoming increasingly difficult for him in his current circumstances. In a press meet, Mukul Roy commented that BJP’s rise in West Bengal was from north Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, and its downfall will also begin from north Bengal. Roy noted that this is just a glimpse of what lies ahead for the BJP. 

Also Read: Tikait-Mamata meeting-Farmer-leaders met Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata

GP Sharma was accompanied by 7 other leaders who switched from BJP to TMC.

He said, “I did everything to ensure that the BJP wins the polls, and the party did bag five seats. But some of us are feeling suffocated in the party now, which is expanding in size without establishing links with grassroots workers.”

He further added, “I had to work hard to consolidate the party’s base in the district. I can no longer stay in a party where the district president is not given importance. I have left the BJP.”

He also said that the recent demand by “our local MP for a union territory status for north Bengal” has further pushed him to take the decision. Sharma said that a few other members of the party will also follow in his footsteps.

In response to GP Sharma’s comments, BJP MLA and opposition leader in Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari said, “Our organisation is strong in north Bengal. Ganga Prasad’s exit hardly matters.” He added, “We will create another Ganga Prasad. Individuals do not matter, BJP matters.”

In December last year, Adhikari had jumped boat into BJP after accusing TMC of lacking discipline. He had then vowed to bring the BJP to power in the state, which did not materialize.

Also Read: TMC vs BJP-Giving too much attention on criticizing a non-existential opponent can cause problem

In the West Bengal election, the contest between TMC-supremo Mamata Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari was a personal, high-stakes and neck to neck fight.

Till the fourth round of vote counting, Banerjee was trailing behind her one-time aide Adhikari in Nandigram in East Midnapore district by a margin of 3,710 votes.

But, in the later rounds of vote counting, Mamata Banerjee had steadily picked up the pace. Adhikari and Banerjee were alternately leading each other by margins ranging from 6 to thousands.

Mamata won the West Bengal assembly election, but lost the seat of Nandigram by 1956 votes to Suvendu Adhikari.

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Mamata Banerjee filed a plea in Calcutta High Court against Adhikari’s Nandigram-win

Mamata vs Suvendu

On June 17, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee moved a plea before the Calcutta High Court. In the plea, she challenged the election victory of rival-BJP’s leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram.

The case would be taken up by the High Court for hearing on June 18. Nearly a month-and-a-half after the declaration of assembly poll results, the legal battle has erupted over the election win of Adhikari. Nandigram assembly constituency had witnessed a personal, a high stakes & high-voltage electoral clash between Mamata Banerjee and her former protégé Adhikari. The latter had jumped ship to BJP in December last year, in hope of getting ahead of Mamata Banerjee in the state polity. But his calculus fell short to predict the complete picture.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee wins Bengal election but loses Nandigram to Suvendu Adhikari

Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Mamata Banerjee registered a sweeping win in the assembly polls. But, Adhikari won by a narrow-margin against the chief minister at Nandigram- the centre of West Bengal election 2021.

Suvendu Adhikari won the contest by a slim margin of 1,956 votes, as per the final result declared by the Election Commission of India. Final declaration of result was preceded by a confusion which erupted during the vote counting.

A number of reports had earlier declared Mamata Banerjee as the winner. Sometime later, the polling body issued a clarification, claiming that Adhikari secured more number of votes, which was questioned.

A per the final tally, Adhikari bagged 1,10,764 votes, whereas, Banerjee secured 1,08,808 votes. Trinamool had subsequently levelled allegations of irregularities in the counting.

Also See: Shadow of Narada-sting case over West Bengal

Sources on the condition of anonymity suggested that this case is linked to the case of missing EVMs, which BJP and the poll body are allegedly trying to brush under the carpet. In June 2017, the poll body had told the Bombay High Court that 20 lakh EVMs that the manufacturers affirmed to have delivered are ‘missing’ from the possession of the Election Commission. However, the poll body has refuted this report which visibly has placed it in discomfort.

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Results of Covid19 crisis, O2-deficit, & West Bengal election defeat- Denigration & rift within BJP

Amit-shah

The world’s largest political party, BJP is in the middle of an ever-exacerbating quagmire, where it is receiving scathing attacks from multiple quarters like the judiciary, people, party workers, and veteran leaders. Various sections of the society are lashing out at the party which leads the centre. It is due to underestimating the problems of Covid19, and the Oxygen crisis and overestimating the party muscle and the potential of its spin doctors with regards to West Bengal election, which the party lost.

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

India is dealing with a huge public health crisis due to the second wave of Covid19, and an associated issue of Oxygen deficit. Apart from that, there are questions in the air in India about the status of vaccines, especially after the country supplied around 60 million doses of vaccines to around 70 countries, prior to the onset of the second wave. Critics of the regime currently at the centre have been questioning the vaccine deficiency & unpreparedness for upgrading of health facilities, and unresponsive & insensitive dealing with the Oxygen crisis when advisers within government had forewarned about the present situation beforehand. Higher Courts had to jump in to give a suitable dose of opprobrium to the lackadaisical inaction of the government. In one of the latest developments in this regard, Delhi High Court on Tuesday (May 04) had pulled up the central government over medical oxygen. The HC issued a show-cause notice to centre as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated after it sought to wriggle out of its liability to supply 700 tonnes of medical-grade oxygen to the national capital. Apart from such flaks from the HC, BJP-led centre has also been heavily criticized by people on its apathy on the Covid19 and O2 situations in Delhi and UP.

Also Read: After receiving flak from courts on deficiency of Oxygen, central government possibly trying to blame farmers

Apart from overconfidence in themselves and underestimating the Covid19 situation, BJP workers in Indore had gone a step ahead in using the Oxygen crisis for their own media spectacle.  On April 17, Indore’s local BJP President, Gaurav Ranadive had stopped an Oxygen tanker carrying 30 tonnes of O2 for hospitals for a photo-op while patients remained gasping for the life-saving gas in the city’s hospitals. This incident delayed the Oxygen supply by hours and was criticized by people across party lines, especially by MP Pradesh Congress committee. MP Congress spokesperson, Neelabh Shukla said while castigating BJP that MP PWD minister Tulsiram Silawat carried out Puja Paath on the O2 tanker when hospitals were waiting for the gas.

Also Read: IndiGo airlifts oxygen concentrators from Thailand, Qatar, & other countries into India

After the defeat of the BJP in West Bengal election, the atmosphere changed dramatically, charged with a wave of seething anger. Now, even the diehard fans of BJP are gradually losing their calm and are questioning the government regarding vaccines and solution to the Covid19 crisis and the Oxygen deficit. Since such ardent followers are not getting anything as a recompense for their support towards BJP, which could have been crystallized by a victory in West Bengal election, the obvious outcome is anger towards the party. An example is a member of BJP IT cell, which had placed Amit Malviya to campaign on social media prior to the Bengal polls. Anshu Thakur is a member of the BJP IT cell, who is currently targeting the government over vaccines. He works as a coordinator of the IT cell (BJP) in Jhanjharpur town in the Madhubani district of Bihar. In one of his Facebook posts, he stated, “This is no time for free food. Give us vaccines.” He posted this on Bihar BJP’s Facebook page in response to a post which announced 5kg of free foodgrain in May and June for the beneficiaries of the public distribution system of the state’s coalition government, where BJP partners with Janata Dal (United).

Also Read: Dark-Side of BJP- A friend in foreign soil- Access to an oversight-immune path of funneling money-Election-Season

In West Bengal, from 2002 to 2006, Tathagata Roy was the head of the BJP unit. After the debacle of BJP in the West Bengal election, he blamed Dilip Ghosh & Kailash Vijayvargiya for the rout of the saffron camp. Roy who has also served as the Governor of Meghalaya and Tripura, on Thursday castigated BJP and levelled allegations of incompetence against Ghosh and Vijayvargiya. As a concluding remark in one of his latest tweets critiquing the Bengal unit of BJP he stated, “Now faced with abuse from party workers they (Kailash-Dilip-Shiv-Arvind) are staying put there (Agarwal Bhawan; BJP election HQ in West Bengal), hoping the storm will blow over.”

Roy, who himself is a civil engineer from IIT and has a law degree added in his vitriolic comment on Ghosh, Vijayvargiya and other current faces of Bengal BJP, “A substandard, uninspired, mercenary bunch of people with no political insight, no analytical abilities, no sense of Bengali sensitivities. Education up to Class VIII and a fitter mistri’s certificate. What do you expect?” He also accused the state leadership of BJP to be clueless about the ground sentiments in West Bengal.

Also Read: West Bengal is a tough battlefield for BJP-an overview from historical, cultural & economic standpoints

All of these developments point to the fact that BJP is now shaken to its core. The triumvirate of defeat in West Bengal election, Covid19 crisis, and the issue of Oxygen is pushing it fast against the wall built on outrage across various sections of society ranging from personnel in the party’s IT cell to a veteran politician within the party.

 

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Puducherry election: NDA camp emerged victorious with AINRC bagging 10 seats and BJP winning 6

Puducherry

In the Puducherry Assembly election, the NDA emerged victorious, with the All India NR Congress becoming the single-largest party.

In the polls in Puducherry, AINRC won 25.85 percent of the vote share, while its ally BJP won 13.66 percent of the votes. Among the parties in the opposition camp, the DMK won 18.51 percent vote share while the Congress won 15.71 percent of the popular mandate, according to the figures released by the Election Commission (EC).  Among NDA parties, AINRC has won ten seats, while the BJP has won six seats. In the UPA camp, the DMK won six constituencies, while the Congress won in two places.

AIADMK suffered a set back as none of the five party candidates could emerge victorious in the assembly elections in Puducherry.

A Johnkumar and his son Richard Johnkumar, contested on BJP tickets in Puducherry. Both were elected to the legislative assembly of the Union territory of Puducherry on Sunday. Johnkumar had quit the Congress ahead of the April 6 assembly polls and joined the BJP. He was doubly rewarded with party tickets for him and his son Richard Johnkumar.

On Sunday, Congress said that it has “lost” elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry

and West Bengal but has not “lost its morale or resolve” to continue to be people’s voice in these tough times. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the party would deliberate on its failures and do course correction after internal deliberations.