Rahul Gandhi's radio silence after Haryana shocker

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have not reacted to the Congress's dismal show in Haryana. Interestingly, both of them were active when the Congress got 99 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

In Short

• Congress won 37 seats in Haryana, failed to stop BJP from scoring hat-trick
• Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi did not react to Haryana election loss
• On June 4, Rahul Gandhi spoke to media on INDIA's performance in Lok Sabha polls

On June 4, when the Congress bucked exit poll predictions and won an impressive 99 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, party MP Rahul Gandhi was swift enough to call a press conference, where he attacked the BJP for "capturing institutions" and thanked the people for "saving" democracy.

But four months later, the Congress slumped to a morale-crushing defeat in Haryana, where it failed to capitalise on the 10-year anti-incumbency faced by the BJP. The Congress was also routed in Jammu even though it is set to form the government along with its partner National Conference in the Union Territory. However, Rahul Gandhi is nowhere to be seen.

Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have neither reacted nor tweeted yet about the party's loss in Haryana. However, other prominent Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera appeared in the media and called out the Election Commission for a slowdown in updating the counting data of Haryana Assembly polls on its website.

The Congress allegations came after the BJP dramatically surged past the grand old party's tally in the early trends for Haryana Assembly election results on Tuesday. The saffron party won 48 seats and dashed the hopes of Congress, which ended with 37.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Jairam Ramesh claimed that up-to-date trends were not being uploaded on time and alleged manipulation of EVMs. Ramesh also wrote to the Election Commission, alleging "inordinate and unacceptable delay in updating trends" in the Haryana Assembly election results. However, the Election Commission junked Congress's charges.

The controversy led to a prompt response from the BJP, which accused the Congress of "crying" when it was losing. Amid this, both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra maintained radio silence throughout.

As the BJP mocked the Congress for celebrating too early, even citing the jalebi issue raised by Rahul Gandhi while campaigning in Haryana, the Gandhi scion has remained silent. Instead, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge responded to the Haryana debacle and said the results were "unexpected".

"The result of Haryana is unexpected. The party is assessing public opinion. After talking to our ground workers, getting complete information and checking facts, the party will give a detailed response," he tweeted.

RAHUL GANDHI ON THE CHARGE ON JUNE 4

In contrast to the October 8 situation, Rahul Gandhi was quite active on social media and addressed a press conference as the Congress-led INDIA bloc defied exit poll predictions and won 234 seats.

Praising the people of Uttar Pradesh, where the INDIA bloc stunned the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said, "UP ne kamaal kar ke dikha diya (The people of UP did wonders)." He also praised the people, saying they did the job of saving the Constitution.

Lashing out at the BJP, whose dream of a 400-seat majority fell flat, when the party got only 240, 32 short of a majority, Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of "capturing institutions".

"The country has clearly and unanimously stated - we do not want Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to be involved in running of this country. We do not like the way they have run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the Constitution. That is a huge message to Narendra Modi," he had said.

On June 6, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a post on X, thanked the Samajwadi Party over the INDIA bloc's stunning performance in Uttar Pradesh. The bloc won 43 seats while the BJP, which swept the state in 2014 and 2019, was restricted to 36.

But four months later, the Gandhi siblings have maintained a radio silence on the Haryana debacle so far.