New Delhi: A resurgent Congress Tuesday made significant gains in the Assembly elections, dealing a body blow to the BJP in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and emerged as the single largest party in Madhya Pradesh.
The reverses for the BJP in the Hindi heartland threw wide open the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which until a few months ago appeared to be in the grip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party.
The Assembly polls held for five states also saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) recording a landslide win for a second consecutive term and the Mizo National Front (MNF) scripting a spectacular victory dislodging the Congress in its last bastion in the northeast to return to power after 10 years.
Buoyed by the Congress’ good showing in the polls that was dubbed as a semi-final for the 2019 general elections, party president Rahul Gandhi said the outcome is a “clear message” to the Modi government that people are not happy with it and time has come for a change.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a massive mandate but refused to listen to the “heartbeat of the country”, Rahul told reporters. With the Congress set to form governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and locked in a close fight in Madhya Pradesh, Rahul said the selection of chief ministers in the three states will be done “smoothly”.
“We have defeated the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh… There will be no issue over (selection of) chief minister. It will be done smoothly,” said Rahul.
MODI CONGRATULATES
Modi congratulated the Congress, TRS and MNF for their victories and said the BJP accepts people’s mandate with humility. “Victory and defeat are an integral part of life. Today’s results will further our resolve to serve the people and work even harder for the development of India,” he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the results were certainly not as expected and asserted the poll outcome was an opportunity to pause and analyse.
In a shock result, the Congress ended Chief Minister Raman Singh’s uninterrupted 15-year rule in Chhattisgarh. Raman Singh submitted his resignation to Governor Anandiben Patel and said he accepts responsibility for BJP’s poor showing.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, too, handed over her resignation to Governor Kalyan Singh in Jaipur. The Congress emerged as the largest party in the desert state, winning 99 out of 199 seats. The BJP had 73 seats in its kitty.
In Madhya Pradesh, according to Election Commission data, the BJP and Congress had around 41.2 per cent votes each. Three-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was battling anti-incumbency, won the Budhni seat unlike his ministers.
Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said the trends reflected people’s desire for a change in Madhya Pradesh while state Congress chief Kamal Nath exuded confidence they will form the government in the State.
In Chhattisgarh, the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) of former chief minister Ajit Jogi won three seats and was ahead in two seats. In Rajasthan, the outcome reflected the 20-year “revolving door” trend of voters in choosing the BJP and Congress alternately.
The ruling BJP won 73 of the 199 seats which went to polls. The BJP and the Congress had 163 and 21 seats in the outgoing House. Independents won 12 seats. Rajasthan has a 200-member Assembly but polling in Alwar’s Ramgarh constituency was postponed following the death of the BSP candidate there.
The Congress will hold its legislature party meeting in Jaipur to decide who will be the chief minister. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot are front-runners for the top post.
IN TELANGANA
The TRS is set to form its second successive government in Telangana where it won a simple majority with its candidates clinching 88 seats in the 119-member House in a resounding endorsement of its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s popularity.
Rao himself won by a margin of over 51,000 votes from his Gajwel seat, trouncing Congress’s V Pratap Reddy. Rao’s son K T Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao, both ministers in his caretaker government, also won. The Congress clinched 19 seats and its ally, TDP, won two seats. Rao told reporters that Telangana proved to be a non-Congress, non-BJP State and that the TRS will play a crucial role in national politics.
Rao dissolved the Assembly in September, eight months ahead of schedule, in a political gamble that paid off handsomely. The Mizo National Front(MNF) got a simple majority bagging 26 of the 40 seats at stake dislodging the Congress which bagged five.