Good reason for BJP to be rattled

Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday was witness to political tremors, triggered by the Lok Sabha by-election results.

First and foremost, the twin loss in seats that were held by Chief Minister Yogi and his deputy chief minister have underscored the formidable strength of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party combine in a state that sends 80 members to the House.

Add to this the strength of Congress, if a grand alliance materialises, and there is enough reason for BJP to feel rattled. The results clearly show that Mayawati's BSP has a transferable vote that other parties may lack. The division of opposition votes that helped BJP in the past may not happen in 2019. This is apparent from the way opposition parties are proceeding to strike a grand alliance, keeping aside their differences in the states.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi was least upset over party candidates losing their security deposits in the two byelections. Rather, he tweeted that "the results clearly show voters' anger pent-up against BJP, so much so that they will vote for any antiBJP candidate whose winning chances are the highest."

He added that the Congress is keen to rejuvenate the party in UP "but that cannot happen overnight."

Sonia Gandhi's dinner on Tuesday night was enough indication of a broad antiBJP coalition taking shape

and the results now — both in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — provide a powerful rationale for achieving this objective.

Congress leaders also argued that Phulpur and Gorakhpur have given a concrete answer to the vital question of how to stop the Narendra Modi juggernaut. Both CM Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya had won their seats, Gorakhpur and Phulpur, by over three lakh votes in 2014. Yogi had won Gorakhpur for three consecutive terms and the idea of BJP losing that seat was beyond comprehension. In fact, the Yogi government was preparing to celebrate completion of its one year in power when the voters delivered this rude shock. A party leader from UP said the outcome of the results was obvious from the day Mayawati declared her support to SP candidates as anybody wanting to defeat BJP knew that the SP-BSP alliance is the best bet. The Congress did not pull out when Mayawati declared support in the middle of electioneering when the campaign was in full swing, he said. Other leaders from the state said BJP must be in a state of panic as losing the seats held by its CM and deputy CM is not an ordinary development but a political upheaval and a precursor to BJP being wiped out from the Uttar Pradesh map in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. They refused to accept rejection of the Congress in the by-elections, asserting that it has given a psychological boost to the Congress that people are fed-up with Modi’s bluffs and are looking for alternatives. Who else could be the alternative to the BJP in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh except Congress, they asked.