BJP leads, but loses heft

BJP-SHIV SENA TO FORM GOVT IN MAHA, MANOEUVRING BEGINS IN HARYANA

Taking the voters for granted did not work for the BJP this time. The slogan, “Ab ki baar 75 paar” about the 90 seats in Haryana and 220-plus target of 228 Assembly berths in Maharashtra fell by the wayside.

The BJP, which brazenly ignored local issues, refused to address economic slow down, unemployment and stuck instead to contentious national issues — abrogation of Article 370 and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) — was delivered a body blow by voters in both the states.

There are already talks of replacing Punjabi chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar with a Jat face in Haryana.

If Haryana turned into an unmitigated horror show for the BJP with a hung Assembly and six ministers losing the polls, in Maharashtra, despite the NDA’s win, BJP was put on the racks as its ally and bugbear Shiv Sena began talking of a “50-50 deal” for the chief minister’s post.

Despite the poor show in Haryana, the BJP, which was six short of the simple majority of 46 Assembly berths has won the support of four of the seven Independent candidates. Now just two seats short of majority, chief minister Khattar is all set to stake claim to form the government. The party has flown the Independent MLAs to Delhi to “keep them safe” from “poachers”.

The by-polls held in 51 Assembly seats also did not go the BJP way. Even though the BJP held on to 30 Assembly berths, the Congress managed to win 12

People of Maharashtra have blessed NDA with immense affection. We are humbled to have got the people’s support yet again. — Narendra Modi

and eight went to others. Gujarat, the home turf of both, PM Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, threw up a major surprise with the Congress winning three of the six Assembly by-polls.

BJP has won two and was leading in one. Turncoat Alpesh Thakor, who had quit the Congress to join the BJP, lost the bypoll to Radhanpur Assembly seat in Gujarat. Even though the Congress has miles to go, it was celebrating the triumph of the old guard. Despite Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s open attempts to sideline former chief minister and Jat ■ Turn to Page 5