The Assembly polls in the five states were a debacle for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which lost in all the three major states-Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. State elections are being seen as “semi-final” match before the “final” Lok Sabha elections 2019.
In Madhya Pradesh, the grand old party Congress, which was locked in a see-saw battle with the BJP, has emerged as the single-largest party with 114 seats. However, the party is two seats short of the majority mark, 116 seats, in the 230-member state Assembly. The BJP managed to get 109 seats in the state which is called “Heart of India” because of its location.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress is all set to come back in power. In the 90-member Assembly, it has bagged 68 seats. Outgoing party, BJP, has won just 15 seats. The BJP was in power in the state for 15 years.
In Rajasthan, by winning 99 seats, the Congress has emerged as the single largest party. Its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won one seat, taking the alliance to a total of 100 seats — the required number to form the government in the state. However, the saffron party got 73 seats.
Now comes the million-dollar question–Should BJP hold PM Modi responsible for the defeats? As he held a large number of rallies in these states urging people to vote for the saffron party.
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Well, immediately after the poll results, the CMs of the three states owned personal responsibilities for the defeats in their states. But no word from the PM. All he said:
But this question is important keeping in mind that for every defeat of the Congress party in the past, the BJP in general and PM Narendra Modi in particular held its president Rahul Gandhi responsible.
Many BJP leaders even mocked him and said that in all those states where he campaigned for the Congress party, it lost.
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However, now, in just about one year of his presidentship, Rahul Gandhi gifted Congress party three big wins.
Even in the political corridors of the country, now many politicians have started raising this questions-Should BJP hold PM Modi responsible for the defeats?
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Congratulations to the Congress and especially to its leader @RahulGandhi for the great success in these elections. He took the blame and brickbats for all the setbacks and now deserves the credit for these victories. It was nice to have something to celebrate on counting day.”
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So now, logically, the same rule applies on the BJP as well and it should hold PM Narendra Modi responsible for the defeats.
About the author: Author is Deputy Editor in India TV and tweets at @AnuragSason
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