New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party seems to be on the verge of forming the next government in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. Going by a STAR News-Nielsen Exit poll, the party is just 19 seats short of the 202 seats needed to form the government.

The Congress has suffered the biggest setback major setback and the party has a number of lessons to learn in the event of this prediction coming true.

Even though the party’s seat share has increased by three times, however, in comparison to the 2009 Assembly Elections the party has lost 40 seats. Rahul was to have worn the victory crown but will now have to transfer the burden of his loss to Digvijay Singh and other party leaders.

One section in the party will now become vocal that the Gandhi scion has not been able to work his magic and hence the idea of projecting him as a future prime ministerial candidate must be reviewed. It is quite plausible that the ‘Bring Priyanka back slogan’ might again be mooted.

It was Rahul who decided to form a coalition with Ajit Singh. However, the Congress was not able to reap the fruits of this strategy. The move is bound to raise questions on Rahul’s coalition politics and social engineering.

Even though Rahul Gandhi’s personal prestige has taken a beating, however, the Manmohan Singh government might still gain from the assembly election results. Mayawati will have to continue her support to the Centre out of political compulsions. On the other hand, Mulayam will have to lend unconditional support to the government at the Centre in return for Congress support in the state. In such a scenario, the Congress can heave a sigh of relief after Mamata Banerjee’s relentless pressure.