Bharat Jodo Yatra
Bharat Jodo Yatra: Congress Party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra campaign is going on. It will pass through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir. This journey, which will last for 150 days, will be of 3570 km. Although Rahul Gandhi says that this yatra is not happening under his leadership, but everyone knows what is the reality. Most of the time of this India Jodo Yatra of Congress will be spent in South India. In such a situation, it is natural to say that Rahul Gandhi’s focus is more on the politics of South India.
There is no one reason why this is so. But after losing from Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and winning from Wayanad in Kerala, his second seat in the same election, the focus of Rahul Gandhi’s politics has been on South India. Congress is currently missing from the politics of North India. Priyanka Gandhi is trying to bring back the lost ground of Congress in these states, but success is not being achieved. You must remember the statement of Rahul Gandhi in which Rahul Gandhi compared the politics of North-South India, after which not only the BJP, but many senior leaders of the Congress party had expressed displeasure. Rahul Gandhi had openly said that politics of issues takes place in South India.
South India has always been safe for the Gandhi family
It is not that the position of Congress is very strong in South India, but it is not that difficult for the Gandhi family to do politics from South India. The recent victory of Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala is an example of this. South has been a safe place for the Gandhi family in the past as well. In the post-Emergency elections, when both former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi lost their seats, the Congress was reduced to 153. At that time also the party got 92 seats from South India. Indira Gandhi won the 1978 Lok Sabha by-election from Chikmagalur in Karnataka. In the 1980 general election, she reached the Parliament by winning the election from Medak in the then Andhra Pradesh. In 1999, Sonia Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka, defeating Sushma Swaraj of the BJP.
There is a challenge before the Congress in the South as well.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which are part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, are the two states where the Congress fared better. Out of 52 seats, 23 seats came from these two states. Talking about Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, most of the seats in these states are occupied by such parties which are neither openly with NDA nor with Congress. Telangana CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao is opening a front against the Congress. In these two states, the Congress party will try to find its political support, except for the TRS.
Now if we look at Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together from the point of view of Congress, then it becomes difficult for BJP to open account in these states except Telangana. The position of Congress is strong in Karnataka, even though there is a BJP government, but Congress is the main opposition. Ahead of the elections, the top leadership of the Congress to rectify the discord in the party here will make the road easier in the coming elections. These four states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are such where despite the poor performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the public had reposed faith in the Congress party in the assembly elections. It is a different matter that MP and Punjab got out of the hands of Congress.