Election Results 2022: Ashwani Kumar says Congress will be reduced to 'a regional outfit'

While the counting of votes across five states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand - is still underway, the initial trends have indicated an endgame for the Congress which is lagging behind in most of the states with a huge margin of votes. Speaking on Congress' embarrassing defeat, as evident in the initial trends, former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar who recently quit the grand old party said that the dismal performance of the party will shrink it down to a mere regional outfit.

Speaking to ANI on the performance of the Congress party in the state elections, he added, "I am not happy with the plight of the Congress party but its political relevance in the future will remain negligible." Asserting that Congress will end up remaining a regional party, he said that the contribution of the grand old party is going to be negligible in view of the ongoing political scenario emerging in the country. 

The former Congress leader who had earlier predicted that the Aam Aadmi Party will gain a comfortable win in Punjab and further will form the next government again reiterated his statements and lauded the performance of AAP in Punjab.

Adding that the results will change the political landscape of the state, he said, "The way AAP performed in Punjab. I had said earlier that AAP’s government is coming. It shows that people are tired of the established political parties. People who are dreaming of young India, and new politics.” 

Arvind Kejriwal's work has earned him votes: Ashwani Kumar

The former Union Minister also spoke on his reason for leaving Congress and said he could not work there with dignity. Speaking on the result of the Assembly election, he added that it was clear that a change is needed in Punjab and AAP had a role in it. "People voted for the ‘Jhadu’, to Arvind Kejriwal, and the work that he has done in Delhi earned him votes,” he said.

Notably, as the procedure of vote counting is currently underway in the five states where elections were held in February and March this year, the debutant Aam Aadmi Party has surprised everyone by making a clean sweep in Punjab by defeating the ruling Congress and some major opposition leaders including the Congress' Charanjit Singh Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu followed by PLC's Captain Amarinder Singh. On the other hand, the saffron party has also surged with a major lead in the four other states. 

(Image: PTI)