The Congress on Wednesday stood isolated in its refusal to accept the Haryana verdict as partners in the INDIA bloc blamed the party’s “arrogance and overconfidence” for the defeat that has delivered a blow to the Opposition alliance and the momentum it had gained since the Lok Sabha elections.

Feeling let down by the Congress, several members of the INDIA grouping spoke out openly against the failure of the Grand Old Party to keep the newly stitched coalition afloat in Haryana, not agreeing to share seats with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP). The lone exception was the single seat left for the CPM.

As the SP on Wednesday unilaterally announced candidates for bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the AAP hardened its stand on the party and other allies like the Shiv Sena (UBT) in poll-bound Maharashtra sought to drive a hard bargain, the Congress went on the back foot, silently gulping the brickbats.

Breaking his silence on the verdict, Congress’s star campaigner Rahul Gandhi said in a social media post: “We are analysing the unexpected results of Haryana.”

Rahul added: “We will inform the Election Commission about the complaints coming from many Assembly constituencies. Heartfelt thanks to all the people of Haryana for their support…. We will continue this fight for rights, for social and economic justice, for truth, and will keep raising your voice.”

The Congress maintained that the spirit of coalition dharma warrants that differences be aired within and not in full media glare.The party went about its business, meeting the Election Commission with a slew of complaints about the Haryana counting process and engaging with Jharkhand alliance partner and chief minister Hemant Soren, signalling that the coalition was intact despite the sniping.

Earlier in the day, the SP unilaterally announced candidates for six of the 10 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where by-elections are due later this year. Though this was seen as an immediate response to the Congress’s Haryana setback, the SP had adopted a similar strategy of announcing candidates on its own for the Lok Sabha polls as well. The SP is particularly smarting from Rohtak MP and Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda’s refusal to enter into an alliance with the party ahead of the Haryana elections, saying it has no base in the state.

In Maharashtra, where Assembly elections are expected to be announced soon, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has said Congress leaders should read the writing on the wall after the Haryana verdict, an oblique reference to the Grand Old Party’s insistence on getting the lion’s share of the seats in the western state where it had got the maximum number of seats in the general election, besting even the BJP.

In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena said the Congress should have taken the INDIA bloc along in Haryana, stating that this was a lesson on how to turn a sure win into a defeat. While there is an unsaid acknowledgement within INDIA that the Haryana hat-trick has come as a booster shot for the BJP — which was despondent after the Lok Sabha polls — the Saamana remained confident that Maharashtra would be different.

AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar told PTI: “The Congress has faced defeat (in Haryana) because of overconfidence.... The Congress didn’t feel it important to take its alliance partners along. We tried a lot but there is no point doing a post-mortem. We have to think of the future.”

Without mentioning Haryana, the AAP Rajya Sabha member said the situation would have been different had they walked together.

Rahul had wanted an alliance with the AAP in Haryana but former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda — who was given a free hand by the Congress central leadership — refused toconcede space.

The CPM, which was given one seat by the Congress to contest, attributed the verdict to “micro-caste mobilisation and insidiouscommunal propaganda”.

“The Congress will have to introspect as to the other factors responsible for this verdict,” the party added.

Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale also underscored the Congress’s need to learn from the Haryana verdict and shed its reluctance to accommodate regional parties, unless absolutely essential for its own survival, while expecting them to make room for it.

“This attitude leads to electoral losses…. Arrogance, entitlement and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster. Learn!” he posted on social media.