For several state elections in the past, the Congress headquarters at Akbar Road in New Delhi used to bear a deserted look. On those occasions, the pain of defeat hung heavily in the air. The mood of the few party workers milling around was dour.

Tuesday, December 11, could not have been more different as it was set to capture Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh from arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The festivities that one associated with the grand old party when it was an unstoppable force in national politics were again on display. Celebrations began at 10:00 am with a burst of crackers. Slogans of Congress president “Rahul Gandhi zindabad” reverberated through the air. Both didn't stop till evening.

Back In The Game

The tone of the celebrations clearly suggested that the Congress now got its mojo back just in time ahead of the bigger battle — the 2019 general elections.

Most Congress beat reporters would admit that ever since the 2014 debacle, when the party was reduced to a rump of 44 seats, the party headquarters used to be dull and sleepy on counting days. The Punjab and Karnataka results were the notable exceptions. This time though, there were scores of Congress workers who had gathered outside and inside the party headquarters.

Party spokespersons present for media soundbites were seen hugging and congratulating each other. Some even hugged journalists. Sweets moved around in abundance. For a change, the scenes were reversed with the BJP. The BJP office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay road resembled the Congress headquarters of the past four years.

Veteran Congress leader Mohan Prakash said he had been urgently called to the party headquarters to meet the media's demand for soundbites and guests. With a smile on his face, he said, "People are seeing through the BJP’s betrayal now. These celebrations are only the beginning."

“Knockout Punch"

Party MP Gaurav Gogoi called it Rahul Gandhi’s knockout punch in the semifinal ahead of 2019 elections. Cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu animatedly addressed a crowd of journalists as well. He later told CNBC-TV18 on the sidelines that "Rahul was the biggest impact player of the series.”

There were murmurs of dissatisfaction as well. As the results in Madhya Pradesh went down to the wire, some spokespersons admitted that BJP’s election management and resources had once again been superior despite the anti-incumbency that should have unseated it.

Another leader spoke on the condition of anonymity about the tight race due to faulty ticket distribution and the delay in sending senior leader Kamal Nath to the state to take charge. However, in the end, most leaders also said these were small issues compared to the big gains that the Congress had managed to make.

The elections in MP and Rajasthan wouldn't have been a close fight hadn't it been for divisions within the party ranks, two Congress leaders told CNBC-TV18, requesting anonymity. "End mein Congress hi Congress ko kat deta hai", they said.

First Published:Dec 11, 2018 8:47 PM IST