EXPLAINED: Congress' downfall in Odisha

Since the year 2000, the Congress has witnessed a steady downfall in Odisha.

Bhubaneshwar, Feb 27: Nothing seems to be going right for the Congress. After a drubbing in the Maharashtra local body polls, the party took a beating in Odisha as well. In the Odisha local body elections the Congress managed to win just 60 out of the 849 seats.

Since the year 2000, the Congress has witnessed a steady downfall in Odisha. The vote share dropped to 25 per cent in 2014 from 35 per cent in 2000. In the 147-member Odisha legislative assembly, the Congress has just 16 MLAs.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was not able to win even a single seat. Moreover the number of candidates who lost their deposit in the 2014 assembly election was 40. The number was 7 in 2000.

Be it Odisha or Maharashtra or any other part of the country, the problem for the Congress is the same. In a hush-hush tone several Congress leaders say that the problem lies in the leadership. There is no inspirational leader at the top and the high command does not seem to be addressing that problem.

Even today, statements such as 'Rahul is immature', are being made and this has not gone down too well with many leaders in the Congress. In Odisha, the party that is smiling the most is the BJP. The party capitalised heavily on the dissatisfaction against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik' Biju Janata Dal and the fading Congress.

The BJP went on to win 297 seats while in the previous elections it could manage only 36. For the BJD too the elections were nothing to smile about. Although it won a majority, the party's numbers has seen a steep decline since 2012. The BJD won, 473 seats when compared to the 654 it bagged in 2012.

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