HAND ON HEARTLAND

Setbacks a worry for BJP; Modi factor can’t overcome ground realities Victories in Rajasthan, MP, C’garh make Cong formidable contender Parties widely hail the verdict, will be more willing to ally nationwide

NEWDELHI: In a dramatic turnaround in Indian politics, the Congress — after a series of electoral losses since 2013 — on Tuesday defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in three crucial heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, in what were largely straight bipolar contests. As he prepares to install his party’s chief ministers in Jaipur, Bhopal and Raipur, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will go into the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with renewed energy and morale, and with greatly enhanced bargaining power as he stitches together a ‘Mahagathbandhan’, or Grand Alliance, against the Narendra Modi-led BJP.

On course to win only 16 seats (it was leading in nine that were yet to be declared till 11pm), the BJP suffered a big defeat in Chhattisgarh. The Congress won or was leading in 67 seats in the house of 90. Madhya Pradesh turned out to be a cliffhanger, and to the credit of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP, after 15 years in power, fell short of the majority mark by six seats. The Congress won or was leading in 114 in MP, which has 230 legislators. In Rajasthan, the Congress won, as was widely expected. It had 99 seats on its own and 100 along with its ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal, in the house of 200 legislators (election for one seat was postponed after the death of a candidate).

Congress leader Kamal Nath wrote to Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel late in the evening. The Congress has “emerged the single largest party with majority support” and “all the independents have in addition assured support to the Congress party,” he said in a letter staking claim to form the next government. Four independents had either won or were leading at the time.

The disturbing news for the Congress came from the south, where the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) cruised to a massive victory crushing the Maha Kootami stitched together by Gandhi and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and from the North-east, where it lost its only government in the region in Mizoram.

But the big takeaway of the election was what appeared to be rising disillusionment with the BJP governments, both at the Centre and the state, for their economic performance.