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Holi comes a day early for BJP

Spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh in an unprecedented fashion, sweeping the…

Holi comes a day early for BJP

Representational Image (PHOTO: TWITTER)

Spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh in an unprecedented fashion, sweeping the assembly elections by winning 312 of the total 403 seats in the crucial Hindi heartland state, which is likely to have a significant bearing on Mr Modi's second prime ministerial bid in 2019 general elections.

The Modi juggernaut also rolled on through the adjoining state of Uttarakhand, powering the BJP to a staggering win there as well. Fuelled by Mr Modi's electioneering, the BJP defeated the incumbent Congress comprehensively and won 57 of the total 70 seats in the Himalayan state.

For the struggling principal Opposition Congress, the silver lining in its overarching cloud of gloom and doom was the result of assembly polls in Punjab where the party, led by a spirited Capt Amarinder Singh, pulled off a landslide victory, ousting the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine from power while snuffing the emerging challenge from the debutant Aam Aadmi Party. The Congress bagged 77 of the total 117 seats in Punjab.

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Hung assemblies were thrown up in BJP-ruled Goa and Congress-ruled Manipur, with the Congress emerging as the single largest party, within striking distance from a simple majority mark in both the states where it would still need the support of a couple of smaller parties or Independents for the required three seats each in this regard. The BJP is, however, expected to make fierce attempts to muster the numbers to form its own alliance governments in these two states.

In the elections to the 40-member Goa assembly, the Congress got 17 seats compared to the BJP's 13. In the 60-member Manipur House, the incumbent Congress's individual tally stood at 28 as against the BJP's 21.

However, the most politicallysignificant results decisively came from the sprawling state of UP where riding on a Modi wave ~ for the second time since 2014 Lok Sabha elections ~ the BJP clinched a stunning triumph, even as the SP-Congress alliance forged by the SP's chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was routed and the Mayawati-led BSP was virtually wiped out.

Backed by the BJP president Amit Shah's protracted ground work, thorough planning and astute poll management, PM Modi's aggressive campaign through the length and breadth of UP in the course of its seven-phase February-March elections ensured the BJPs spectacular return to power in the state after a gap of 15 years.

The elections in these five states, especially UP, were considered to be the first major electoral test on a mass scale for the PM Modi's demonetisation move. Given the intensity and sustained pitch with which all the rival leaders ~ including PM Modi, Mr Shah, Rahul, Akhilesh and Mayawati among others ~ raked up this issue to project their conflicting rhetoric among the people, today's poll results were perceived as "public endorsement" for the controversial note ban measure.

The BJP's rich electoral dividends in UP will also have significant ramifications for the party on several fronts ~ ranging from boosting its numbers in the Rajya Sabha where it still does not enjoy majority status, to further strengthening its role vis-a-vis the upcoming election of the new President of India, to boosting its prospects in coming elections in states like Gujarat and Karnataka.

Its most striking implication might however be felt in the 2019 general elections when thanks to the BJP's performance in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Modi could be in pole position while taking his second shot at his office.

The Uttar Pradesh election result further reinforced Mr Modi's place in the BJP's pantheon, with a legion of its leaders, Union ministers and chief ministers giving credit to his "popularity" and his "pro-poor and pro-development policies" for the party's triumph in UP and Uttarakhand.

The Opposition camp, on the other hand, blamed their polarising campaign among other factors for its debacle.

Rahul Gandhi's leadership within the Congress might have been further undermined in the wake of these results. He had invested a lot into his UP campaign, even as the party leaders and workers have been getting restive in the face of one crushing electoral defeat after another. With his mother, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, increasingly withdrawing herself from active political work apparently due to health reasons, Rahul would also have to assume the party presidentship soon against such a grim backdrop, even as the 131-year-old party has still not been able to figure out any alternative other than its instinctive dependence on the Nehru-Gandhi family for its leadership.

Today's results have clearly dealt a severe blow to the regional players like Akhilesh and Mayawati ~ and even the AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ~ who will be forced to now recalibrate their politics and strategies. Despite the hype, the AAP could not achieve much in the Punjab and Goa polls.

As regards Akhilesh, who quit as Uttar Pradesh chief minister in the evening, the poll catastrophe could spark another round of bitter intra-family power struggle within the Samajwadi Party, pitting him against his father, SP founder and UP satrap Mulayam Singh, and uncle Shivpal Yadav, who might go all out to dislodge him from the party presidentship.

Victory of development, good governance: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today thanked the people of Uttar Pradesh for the BJP's historic victory in the just concluded Assembly polls to the state and termed it a win for development and good governance ~ Vikas aur sushasan ki jeet.

I thank the people of Uttar Pradesh from the bottom my heart. This is a historic victory of the BJP and a victory of development and good governance, Modi said in a series of tweets on the outcome of elections in the five states. He termed the party's victory in Uttarakhand as a special one and assured the people of the party's commitment to work for their well-being.

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