Post the Assembly Elections 2023 debacle, it's time for responsibility & accountability within Congress. What went wrong for the party?

Rajasthan was a big question mark, given the state's penchant to vote out incumbent governments, but Madhya Pradesh was a close shot for Congress. Until the Assembly Elections Results 2023 started pouring in and took the exit polls, political predictions and everything else for a spin.

After the Congress debacle in Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath is likely to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday and may tender his resignation as the Madhya Pradesh Congress chief, says a PTI report citing inside sources. The report also claims that Congress leadership is miffed about Nath not meeting party workers to uplift their morale but rather meeting CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan after the results.

A day after the embarrassing and unexpected defeat, Nath posted on social media, "I accept the decision of the people of Madhya Pradesh in the election results. We have been given the responsibility to sit in the opposition and we will discharge our responsibility...You must all remember that I never announced the seats. I always said that I have faith in the voters of Madhya Pradesh and even today I will say that I have faith in the voters of Madhya Pradesh. I will review with all the defeated candidates and winning MLAs what was the reason why we could not explain our point to the voters of Madhya Pradesh."

In the 2018 assembly elections, Congress had formed a government in the state under the leadership of Nath after winning 114 seats in the 230-member MP assembly. The Congress government fell after being reduced to a minority. However, in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, the party secured only 66 seats.

What went wrong for Congress?

What went wrong for Congress in Madhya Pradesh is being equated and addressed in the same breath as what Kamal Nath did wrong? His remarks over the INDIA bloc alliance over seat sharing, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav neither went down well, nor will age well now. SP was ready to settle for only four to six seats, the JD(U) with only one in Madhya Pradesh to which reportedly Nath did not agree out of arrogance and rubbed the INDIA bloc the wrong way.

Political commentator Vir Sanghvi writes in his column, "The same people who had complained about Rahul Gandhi's dominance and had advised the Congress to leave the campaigns to experienced state leaders now said that Kamal Nath, the congress face of the election was too old and discredited." While experience is in favour of Kamal Nath, a nine times MP from Chhindwara, but not a clean image or even age factor. Sujata Anandan, another political commentator calls Nath a 'vintage' opining, "Let them retire." Many from within and outside of the party supporters can't help but agree. As the post election analysis has only started, many new and surprising facts have come to the fore. "How is it possible that some MLAs did not even get 50 votes in their own village?" questioned Kamal Nath on Tuesday, alleging a serious issue with EVMs.

Union MoS for Food Processing Prahlad Patel who was tasked with the tough job of breaking Congress strongholds in Mahakoshal, says the Congress made mistakes, reports the Indian Express. "It was not able to communicate to the public." He adds, "The Congress did not have any policies and their leaders were tired and old." New leaders bring along new hope, renewed start, something that the Congress needed at the ground level in these assembly elections.