Corruption topples Cong apple cart
THE CONGRESS PARTY MAY HAVE ERRED IN ASSESSING 83YEAROLD VIRBHADRA SINGH’S APPEAL AND ABILITY TO GALVANISE THE RANK AND FILE
by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate, and the income tax department for cases of corruption and disproportionate assets. That armed the BJP for fusillades against the Congress and its most recognisable, but beleaguered, face in the hill state.
PM MODI PRIME VOTE CATCHER FOR BJP
If Himachal proved such an easy ride for BJP — compared to a hard-fought contest in Gujarat — it was because its campaignersin-chief, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, deftly tapped into popular mood by pitching their poll narrative around the cashand-carry allegations against the Congress rule — in a sense, a repeat of BJP’s line of attack in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Withering barbs and acerbic humour was the staple of Modi’s blistering attack in his seven rallies across the state . He taunted Virbhadra and Rahul Gandhi as “zamanati neta (leaders out on bail)”, and called upon voters to rid the ‘dev bhoomi’ (abode of the Gods as Himachal is known) of the ‘demons of mafia raj’.
In the end, the BJP’s tirade built on corruption and law and order overwhelmed the Congress poll pitch on GST and demonetisation and its development plank.
Undoubtedly, Modi’s charisma, with a well-oiled election machine and an aggressive RSSled grassroots mobilisation, helped BJP decimate Congress even in its traditional bastion of upper Himachal where the rape and murder of a school girl in the run-up to elections turned the heat on the incumbent. That Modi was the prime voter catcher is also evident from a stunning defeat of state stalwart and twotime CM PK Dhumal who, in a last-hour change of strategy, was projected for the top job.
CONGRESS BEST BET TURNS LIABILITY
For Congress, which staked its comeback gambit solely on Virbhadra, the scam-hit scion of princely Rampur Bushehar, turned out to be a liability. The party may have erred in assessing Singh’s appeal and ability to galvanise the party rank and file.
Not that the party high command had much of a choice. For, Singh has been the party’s only bet for four decades. A feeble attempt at fighting this election under a collective leadership with an active role to state Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was stymied by his baiter Singh who, in the run-up to the elections, even threatened not to contest and campaign.
The party acquiesced to his hardball tactics. Not only did it project Singh as its CM face, it gave him a free hand in candidate selection and even relaxed its ‘one-family-one-ticket’ formula that allowed Singh to field his son, Vikramaditya, from his home turf of Shimla (rural).
At one level, Congress’s nemesis in yet another state — of 29 states, it’s now in power only in Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Mizoram — underscores the limits of the popular appeal of a hegemonic regional satrap. It also reflects the failure to groom a second-rung leadership.