New Delhi: The BJP not only created history by coming to power in Congress-ruled Assam, the party also opened its account in Kerala and made inroads into Marxist and Trinamul Congress-dominated West Bengal.
Routed in Assam and Kerala, the Congress was yet again faced with an existential crisis. A report indicated that “put together, these states account for only seven per cent of the country’s population...”
A section in the party claimed that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has “failed to deliver yet again”. The party, however, rejected suggestions that Mr Gandhi should accept blame for the party’s debacle in five states. Making a jibe at the Congress, BJP president Amit Shah said: “The country has taken two more steps towards Congress- mukt Bharat.”
Putting up a brave front, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the party would “introspect into the reasons for our loss and will rededicate ourselves to service of the people with greater vigour”.
Bucking the trend, defeating anti-incumbency and tearing exit poll predictions to shreds, AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa created history by returning to power for a second successive term, a feat accomplished in her state only by her “political guru”, MGR, in 1984.
Despite the Saradha and Narada scams, Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee strengthened her grip over West Bengal by decimating the much-hyped Left-Congress alliance and bettering her performance in the 2011 Assembly polls.
For the Left, led by CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, the election threw up a mixed bag. The CPM-led LDF scored a major victory in Kerala, opened its account in Puducherry after 40 years and lost miserably in West Bengal. Slipping down the electoral ladder with every election, the Bengal Marxists and Communists are in a “mood for introspection”. Of the 126 seats in Assam, the BJP won 60 seats and the Congress 26. In 232 seats out of the 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK had won 131 seats and was leading in three at the time of going to press and the DMK had won 86 and was leading in three.
Bettering its performance in West Bengal with 294 Assembly berths, Trinamul Congress won 211 seats and the Left and Congress 76. In Kerala the Left-led LDF was ahead with 92 seats and the Congress-led UDF lagging far behind with only 46 seats.
Of the 30 Assembly berths in Puducherry, the Congress-DMK is all set to form government with 17 seats. In West Bengal the BJP, in alliance with the Gorkha Jan Morcha, won six seats. Both the BJP and GJN won three each.
For the BJP, the Assam victory was crucial for the outfit to regain its political momentum and prepare for Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
Learning from its mistakes in Delhi and Bihar, strategists in Assam made some course-corrections. They did not bank on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma for an electoral victory and instead projected a “popular face” as CM candidate and got the alliance arithmetic (with AGP and BPF) right.
