Assembly polls: India ruling party defies predictions

New Delhi: India's ruling Congress party has managed to put behind a string of defeats by emerging victorious in three of the five states that went to polls recently.

As the results started pouring in from all five states - Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram - it became clear that the ghost of defeats in various states since it came to power at the centre in 2004 had vanished, making the party a strong contender to retain power in general elections next year.

It was the perfect birthday-eve gift for the Congress president Sonia Gandhi who turns 62 today.

Of the five states, Congress was in power only in Delhi. The party not only managed to retain power in the national capital, but snatched power from the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan and Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram. At the same time, it increased its tally and voting percentage both in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh that the BJP managed to retain.

Senior leaders of the BJP went into a huddle as soon as the results were announced. Although they put up brave faces for public consumption, their body languages said it all. The results have dampened their hopes of coming to power at the centre.

They know now that they have an uphill task at hand.

All their issues, such as price rise, terrorism, Amarnath shrine land row, were rejected by the voters. Catchy slogans failed to enthuse people and an analysis of results in all five states make it clear that the voters have rewarded the government that either worked or demonstrated that they were trying hard, while rejecting governments that failed to come up to their expectations. While the Congress party had dubbed the recent round of state polls as semi-final ahead of the general elections, BJP termed it as a full-dress rehearsal.

With barely five months left for the Lok Sabha polls and chances of the Congress-led federal government calling for an early election looming large, the party would have to put its acts together to sustain its dream of dethroning the Congress party from power at the centre.

This may entail repositioning Lal Krishna Advani, its prime ministerial candidate, since the party was merely trying to project him as answer to the growing incidents of terrorism.

He will have to be projected as a man who can deliver goods, develop the country in a manner that will benefit the commoners. At the same time, BJP has emerged weaker and prone to arm-twisting by its allies who will now demand more seats since the party will now be more dependent on them to come to power in the central government.

On the contrary, Congress has emerged stronger. It will now be able to dictate terms to some of the regional parties who will now see benefit of being aligned to the Congress party.

Together these five states account for merely 73 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, but its impact is bound to be felt in many other states, since the general trend is to vote for the party most likely to win and the Congress victory has sent the message that it is ready to stake claim to rule the country for another 10 years, based on its popularity, performance and perception.

Rajasthan: Lesson for Modi

In voting out the BJP, peopleof Rajasthan have taught a lesson to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who campaigned there extensively, the Gujarat Congress said on Monday.

"Modi addressed the maximum number of public meetings in Rajasthan. He tried to stir up the issue of terrorism to fool people but his 'violent model' failed to enchant the voters," Gujarat Congress chief spokesperson said.

- IANS