'Ignoring South Haryana, Not Mainstreaming OBC Leaders Cost Congress': Former MLA Attacks Own Party For Electoral Loss

The Chairman of the Congress party's Other Backward Classes (OBC) front, Captain Ajay Yadav criticised his own party for ignoring the OBC community and the South Haryana region, where Congress did not perform well.

Despite exit polls predicting a Congress government in the state, the Congress fell short of a majority and won only 37 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 48 seats to form government for the third consecutive term.

The BJP was able to maintain its hold over south Haryana by winning 17 of 23 seats, its best ever and lost only in Muslim-dominated areas. The BJP had won 15 seats in 2014 and 14 in 2019 in south Haryana.

Responding to this development, Yadav said, "The post of Chairman given to me is just a jhujhuna (gimmick), an eyewash. The four districts of south Haryana have no representation in Congress committees."

"Ignoring four districts of Gurgaon, Mehandragarh, Rewari and Faridabad has cost the party. Congress did well in those areas which got representation in working committee," he added.

The former Rewari MLA alleged that the Congress party did not bring people of the OBC community to the mainstream, citing the absence of his photos from posters and said this sent a wrong message to the people.

Notably, it is believed that having an OBC Chief Minister, Nayab Singh Saini at the helm, consolidated OBC votes in the favour of the BJP, which helped the party to increase its vote share.