Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 3: The Congress footprint shrunk further in the Hindi heartland with the BJP sweeping it out of power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while retaining control in Madhya Pradesh while the Grand Old Party registered a consolation win in Telangana further expanding its presence in South India.
Even though the final results were slow to come by, by evening on Sunday the BJP had won or was leading in 163 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, far ahead of the majority mark on 116 seats while in 199 –member Rajasthan Assembly, the BJP had claimed 115 seats and in the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly was comfortably placed with 54 seats.
The Congress which when in power at the centre had created Telangana state bifurcating Andhra Pradesh in 2014, for the first time is all set to come to power throwing out the regional Bharat Rashtra Samithi formed by the K Chandrasekhar Rao who held the reign for the last 10 years beginning from the inception of the state. The Congress was comfortably placed with 65 seats with the BRS trailing far behind with only 39 seats, a deficit of 49 seats from its tally of 2018.
Though the BJP failed to wrest control of the state despite its high-pitch campaign throwing stalwarts like the prime minister Narendra Modi, the union home minister Amit Shah and the party national president JP Nadda into the ring, it showed significant gains improving its tally from just one seat in the last elections to eight this time, one more than the AIMIM of the flamboyant minority leader Asaduddin Owaisi, which stayed at seven seats it had also won in the last elections.
What was more, even while losing in Telangana, the BJP stung on the tails of both the leading parties, the Congress and the BRS, with the saffron party’s new entrant defeating the stalwarts of the BRS and the Congress, one the incumbent chief minister and the other most likely choice to head the new government.
Having won only eight seats out of the 111 it contested in Telangana, the outcome was hardly satisfying for the BJP but it can take consolation from the fact that the party took the VVIPs constituency of Kamareddy where its candidate KV Ramana Reddy overpowered both the outgoing chief minister KCR, the chief of the BRS, and the most probable incoming one Revanth Reddy, the state chief of the Congress.
Thought both KCR and Revanth Reddy will not be ousted from the state Assembly as both of them contesting from two seats were comfortably leading in the other seats, KCR hailed as “father of Telangana” at Gajwel and Revanth Reddy in Kodangal, it was no less remarkable performance for Ramana Reddy who in the past had travelled through both the BRS and the Congress to be in the BJP for the last three years.
Even though the outgoing chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot said the outcome of the elections was “unexpected,” the political observers felt the Congress reversal was not surprising considering the bitter group clash the party in power witnessed in the last five years between Gehlot and his erstwhile deputy Sachin Pilot.
The High command of the party kept ignoring the bitter fight between the two power centres, at time Gehlot using even abusive terms for his erstwhile who was at one stroke shunted out both from the deputy chief ministership and the party’s state unit presidentship for revolting against the Gehlot government. Though it managed to give a semblance of unity in the last three months or so, it was perhaps too late to convince the voters that if returned to power it would be able to deliver the goods. The Congress is all set to end up with 70 seats, down from 100 it had won in 2018.
While the BJP’s racing to power with a comfortable majority was expected in Madhya Pradesh, the party’s performance in Chhattisgarh was contrary to most the exit polls forecast of the Congress retaining power in the state. The Congress is likely to have only 35 seats in Chhattisgarh, 33 seats less than the 2018 results while in MP, the Congress was set to end with only 66 seats, a loss of 48 seats from its score in 2018 when it had won a majority but lost power about a year later due to rebellion by a section of the party MLAs led by the present union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who with his supporters joined the BJP and the saffron party returned to power.
With the BJP expected to register big wins in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the assembly poll results in the three states indicate that the people were firmly with politics of good governance and development, which the BJP stands for.
In a post on X, Mr Modi said, “We bow to the Janta Janardan. The results in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan indicate that the people of India are firmly with politics of good governance and development, which the @BJP4India stands for.” “I thank the people of these states for their unwavering support and assure them that we will keep working tirelessly for their well-being. A special thanks to the hardworking party Karyakartas. Each of them is exemplary! They have worked tirelessly and highlighted our development agenda among the people,” the Prime Minister said.
On Telangana, he said, “My dear sisters and brothers of Telangana, Thank you for your support to the @BJP4India. Over the last few years, this support has only been increasing and this trend will continue in the times to come. Our bond with Telangana is unbreakable and we will keep working for the people.” “I also appreciate the industrious efforts of each and every BJP Karyakarta,” he said.
After a day of major setbacks for the Congress in three states, Rahul Gandhi “humbly” accepted the people’s mandate “The battle of ideology will continue,” he posted on X. The former Congress president also thanked the voters of Telangana, “We will definitely fulfil the promise of making Prajalu Telangana,” he added. Fight against those who work for “doralu (landlords)” and those who do for “prajalu (common people)” has been one of the main themes of the Congress’ Telangana campaign.
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, say several Congress leaders, gave impetus to the Congress in the youngest state which had been ruled by the KCR-led BRS government since its birth in 2014. The BJP has credited its sweeping gains in the Hindi heartland states to the “people’s faith in Modi’s guarantee” – a dig at Congress’ proposed “seven guarantees.”
The Telangana election was a major positive point for the Congress in its “mission south” move, a chance to make inroads into South India ahead of next year’s general election, where the BJP is weak. At present, the BJP does not have a state in the southern part of the country – which has been a traditionally a tough nut for it to crack.
The party was in power in Karnataka till it was ousted earlier this year by the Congress and Kerala remains immune to its charms; in 2021 the BJP won zero of 113 seats and in 2016 it got one from 98. Last year in Tamil Nadu, the BJP – which was then allied with the AIADMK – was voted out and, since them, the regional party has broken off ties in a state that is dominated by local politics.