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NEW DELHI — The BJP swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Sunday inflicting a resounding defeat on the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland, in a big boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and setting the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In some consolation for the Congress in the face of the saffron wave after it lost Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the party ousted the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in Telangana to make it 3-1 for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the latest round of Assembly elections billed as a semi-final before next year's poll showdown. Counting of votes in Mizoram will be taken up on Monday.
As the BJP leadership savoured the triple victory just months after losing its lone southern citadel Karnataka, Prime Minister Modi said some people are already saying that the party's hat-trick in the states is a guarantee of hat-trick in the Lok Sabha polls.
"The results show popular support for our battle against corruption," Modi told a crowd of cheering supporters at the BJP headquarters here, adding that they have served a lesson to the Congress and the opposition's INDIA bloc that merely collecting some dynasts on a dais may make for a good photograph but cannot win people's confidence.
Ruling MP for 18 years, a well entrenched BJP managed to stave off anti-incumbency in a shot in the arm for four-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and dashing the hopes of a resurgent Congress helmed by veteran and former CM Kamal Nath.
Winning 141 seats and leading in 24, the BJP got a simple majority and could get two-thirds majority in a House of 230. Congress bagged 45 and was leading in 19.
Free food grain, income assistance for farmers, housing for all, 100 per cent electrification of villages, and tap water to every home, were listed by the BJP as some of Modi's guarantees in Chhattisgarh.
After the Congress' loss in three key states, rumblings have surfaced in the opposition bloc INDIA ahead of their meeting on December 6, with many leaders claiming that the grand old party ignored others, but was unable to win elections on its own.
The loss for Congress, which made a loud pitch for caste census and adopted a soft Hindutva approach, also appeared to weaken its position in the INDIA bloc where party equations could change, as other opposition parties may no longer consider it as the fulcrum of the opposition alliance.
With BJP dislodging the Congress hit by factionalism in Rajasthan, the desert state stuck to a nearly 30-year-old 'rivaz' (tradition) of not voting an incumbent party back to power. The BJP got a majority bagging 115 seats after voting was held for 199 constituencies. The Congress notched 69 seats
The Chhattisgarh outcome was a surprise for many Congress leaders who were hoping for another stint in power in the state by fending off the BJP challenge.
The K Chandrashekhar Rao-led BRS hoped for a hat-trick in Telangana but was dethroned by the Congress. Anumula Revanth Reddy, a Lok Sabha MP who led the Congress' charge, could be the second chief minister of the state.
The Congress won 61 seats and was leading in three in the 119-member House. The BRS bagged 33 and was ahead in six.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Assembly results have proved that the days of appeasement and caste politics are over and that 'new India' votes on politics of performance.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the party will overcome temporary setbacks and prepare fully for the Lok Sabha polls along with its partners in the INDIA alliance.