Assembly election results: BJP sweeps MP, wrests Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the strength of “Modi's assurances”, on Sunday brushed aside Congress's challenge in the Hindi heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, a result that strengthened Prime Minister Narendra Modi's prospects of extending his leadership to lead. party to a third consecutive Lok Sabha triumph in five months.
The Congress consoled itself with a victory in Telangana but the results shocked the party, which was set to sit down with the rest of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties on Wednesday to plan the way forward. With the Congress losing the heartland where it had 'guaranteed' a return to the old pension system, the election results could ease pressure on the Center on the issue.
However, the BJP had matched the Congress' 'guarantee' with 'guarantee' such as announcing increase in minimum support prices for paddy and wheat, more subsidy on cooking gas cylinders, increasing financial support to farmers and even lowering fuel prices in Rajasthan – promises that, if delivered in the states or replicated at the Centre, would increase the fiscal burden.
The BJP leadership, including the Prime Minister, attributed the party's victories to the support it received from women, which could dictate the contours of the interim budget. For example, more women voted for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, which the party said was a result of its Ladli Bahna plan, and Chhattisgarh leaders attributed the victory in that state to a similar promise of direct transfer of benefits to women who the BJP did. for the women there.
The BJP had contested the elections without announcing any chief ministerial candidates. With Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan defeating the anti-incumbency party once again, and the BJP's top leadership making rapprochement with Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje, it remains to be seen whether the two satraps would return. The BJP's strategy of fielding 18 MPs in core Hindi states helped boost the party's cadre.
Addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters in the evening, the Prime Minister said the BJP's 'hat-trick' of winning the three states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan was a 'guarantee' of the Lok Sabha elections. in 2024, and the electoral triumph will reverberate around the world and excite investors.
The Prime Minister, who peppered his speech with the phrase 'Modi's guarantee', while referring to the demand for a caste census, reiterated that before his government there were only four castes: women, youth, farmers and the poor. He said that all castes, including other backward classes and the tribal population of the country, are reflected in these “four castes”. The Prime Minister said the results would convince the world to continue to have faith in India's progress and instill greater confidence among global investors in the country. The world is watching as people vote for a stable government with a strong majority, he said.
Congress sources said the party would have to reflect on why the Hindi heartland continued to put its faith in the credibility of “Modi's assurances”, rejecting the “Congress guarantees” that had helped the Congress win Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka in December and May to win. respectively. The heartland also put an end to the leitmotif of the Congress campaign: the demand for a nationwide caste census.
However, the results showed that the BJP juggernaut struggled in its march south of the Vindhyas with the Congress winning Telangana, ending the decade-long rule of Bharat Rashtra Samithi led by K Chandrasekhar Rao in the southern stands. The victory is a rare example in recent decades of a Congress comeback in a state that had lost to a regional power. The BJP was number three, winning eight seats with a vote share of almost 14 per cent, with Modi noting that his party's graph in Telangana has improved with every election.
In his speech, the Prime Minister saw the victory as a justification for his government's fight against corruption.