CM Saini Lists States Where Congress Has Been Out of Power for Decades
Synopsis
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini lists states where Congress has been out of power for up to 59 years — Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP, Bihar and more — arguing no one in the party dares question Rahul Gandhi's leadership despite the prolonged electoral drought.
Key Takeaways
Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini posted a state-by-state count of Congress's absence from power across India.
Congress has been out of power in Tamil Nadu for 59 years , West Bengal for 49 years , and Sikkim for 42 years , according to the post.
Other states listed: Uttar Pradesh (37 years) , Bihar (36 years) , Tripura (33 years) , Gujarat (30 years) , with Odisha also mentioned.
Saini argues that despite this sustained electoral decline, no leader within the Congress organisation holds Rahul Gandhi accountable.
The post appears truncated, suggesting additional states were listed beyond what was captured.
Decades of electoral absence — that is the charge Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini levelled at the Congress party on Monday, October 12, 2026, rattling off a state-by-state count of how long the grand old party has stayed out of power across India, while arguing that no one inside the organisation dares question Rahul Gandhi's leadership.
Saini's post, written in Hindi, lists the tenures of Congress's absence with the precision of an audit: 'तमिलनाडु में 59 साल, पश्चिम बंगाल में 49 साल, सिक्किम में 42 साल, उत्तर प्रदेश में 37 साल, बिहार में 36 साल, त्रिपुरा में 33 साल, गुजरात में 30 साल, ओडिशा में...' — Tamil Nadu: 59 years out of power. West Bengal: 49 years. Sikkim: 42 years. Uttar Pradesh: 37 years. Bihar: 36 years. Tripura: 33 years. Gujarat: 30 years. Odisha: the list continues. The cumulative picture Saini draws is of a party that has lost an entire generation of voters in some of India's most populous states.
The accountability argument at the heart of the attack
The sharpest edge in Saini's post is not the electoral math — it is the internal-party dimension. He argues that despite this prolonged and widening electoral drought across multiple states, no voice within the Congress organisation is willing to hold Rahul Gandhi responsible. It frames the Congress not merely as an electorally weakened party, but as one where accountability has been suspended at the top.
This is a well-worn BJP line of attack, but Saini's version leans on specificity rather than rhetoric. Each state listed carries its own weight: Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are large, consequential states where Congress has been a marginal force for the better part of six decades. Uttar Pradesh — India's most populous state — last saw a Congress government in 1989. Gujarat, the home state of the BJP's core leadership, has not had a Congress government since 1995. The numbers are not invented; they reflect real electoral history.
Saini's political context in Haryana
As Chief Minister of Haryana, Saini sits at the top of a state the BJP has held since 2014 — a fact that gives his commentary a pointed edge. Haryana itself is a state Congress is keen to reclaim, which means the national-level critique doubles as a local political signal: the BJP's losses elsewhere, Saini implies, are nothing compared to Congress's systemic and long-running shutout from power across the country.
The post appears to be a segment of a longer message — the Odisha entry is cut off — suggesting more states and numbers were listed. Even in its truncated form, the argument lands with cumulative force: across India's north, south, east, and west, Congress has not governed in living memory for millions of voters.
Whether the charge sticks as electoral strategy or simply as social-media sparring, the underlying data gives it durability. A party with no government in Tamil Nadu since 1967, and none in West Bengal since 1977, faces a structural argument that goes beyond any single election cycle — and that, for the BJP, is precisely the point.
Point of View
Not invention. The internal-accountability framing is the more consequential layer: by arguing that Rahul Gandhi is insulated from internal criticism regardless of results, Saini positions the Congress as dynastically frozen rather than democratically self-correcting. In the run-up to any state or national cycle, this kind of cumulative indictment is designed to chip away at Congress's credibility as a governing alternative. The unanswered question it implicitly raises: at what point does a party's sustained absence from power in major states become a structural condition rather than a run of bad luck?
NationPress
12 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
How long has Congress been out of power in Tamil Nadu?
According to Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini's post, Congress has been out of power in Tamil Nadu for 59 years , making it one of the longest such absences cited.
What states did Nayab Singh Saini mention as places Congress has not governed for decades?
Saini's post lists Tamil Nadu (59 years), West Bengal (49 years), Sikkim (42 years), Uttar Pradesh (37 years), Bihar (36 years), Tripura (33 years), Gujarat (30 years), and Odisha, though the Odisha figure was cut off.
Why is Nayab Singh Saini attacking Congress and Rahul Gandhi?
Saini, the BJP Chief Minister of Haryana, argued that Congress has been out of power across multiple major Indian states for decades, yet no one within the party holds Rahul Gandhi accountable for the sustained electoral decline.
When did Congress last hold power in Uttar Pradesh?
Congress last governed Uttar Pradesh in 1989 — a gap of over 37 years that Saini cited in his post as evidence of the party's long decline in India's most populous state.
What is the BJP's argument about Congress's internal accountability?
The BJP, as expressed by Saini, argues that despite losing power in numerous states over multiple decades, the Congress party's structure prevents any internal leader from questioning or challenging Rahul Gandhi's leadership.
