Assembly Polls : Unrivalled Ascendence

The BJP’s victory in Himachal Pradesh reflects people’s increasing disillusionment with the Congress and reposing unstinted faith in the BJP

Ajay Bhardwaj

The BJP”s ascendence remains unchecked. By storming back to power in the hill state of Himchal Pradesh the party has  reaffirmed it”s stamp of being  invincible. Himachal Pradesh is the 19th state to fall in its kitty, and this is an unprecedented record in many ways for the BJP. In a way, the Modi’s  juggernaut carries on uninterrupted, unchallenged.
In other words, if anything, the BJP”s victory in Himachal Pradesh has re-established the Congress”s losing spree in the states. While in the last almost 40 years Himachal Pradesh has seen the BJP and the Congress taking turns every five years to assume power in the bipolar politics of the hill state, but the margin of seats this time between the two parties ( BJP winning almost double the seats won by the Congress) speaks of the overwhelming tide in favour of the BJP.
The BJP recorded its overwhelming victory in the Assembly elections capturing 44 seats in the 68-member House, leaving the Congress way behind with 21 seats.
Though the BJP has captured a two-third majority in the Assembly, the victory, however, comes with a sting in the tail.  Both, the party”s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal and the state BJP president Satpal Satti lost their elections leaving the party in a quandary over the selection of the chief minister.
Dhumal, the two-time chief minister of the state, had changed his seat from Hamirpur to Sujanpur this time where he had confronted his former protege Rajender Rana as a Congress candidate. It is for the first time that Dhumal had contested from the Sujanpur seat.
But for Dhumal”s defeat, it is big celebration time for the BJP which rode high on anti-incumbency wave and saw the saffron spreading its wings more in the northern part of the country. But for Punjab and Delhi, the entire North is now under the sway of the saffron making it a remarkable stride for prime minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
The BJP”s victory reestablished firmly that the Congress propaganda against the GST and demonetisation failed to cut any ice in the state. The break-down of law and order reflected in the Kotkhai rape case and a series of corruption charges against Virbhadra Singh apparently proved to be the doom of the Congress.
Big Victory in
Kangra and Mandi
The BJP this time recorded an imposing victory in the Kangra and Mandi areas which decisively turned the tables on the Congress. In Kangra district the party captured 11 of the 15 seats while in the Mandi are it pocketed nine of the 10 seats. The party had never had it so good in these two regions.
The BJP was polled 49 percent of the total votes as against 42 per cent bagged by the Congress.
For the Congress both, chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his son, Vikramaditya won their respective seats of Arki and Shimla (Rural) even as many senior ministers like GS Bali, Mukesh Agnihotri and Sujan Singh Pathania lost the election.
In the 2012 Assembly elections, the Congress had 36 seats whereas the BJP had 26 seats. This time the Congress never sought to give any fight to the BJP which looked to be on ascendence right from day one. For the Congress the five-time  chief minister, Virbhadra Singh single-handedly held the fort while no national-level leader joined hands with him in the fight. Even Rahul Gandhi, the then AICC vice-president, paid a just one-day visit to the state. Distribution of tickets by the Congress was also a long drawn-out war leaving even veteran Congress leaders like Vidya Stokes in the lurch.
No wonder at the end when the results were declared Virbhadra Singh minced no words in blaming the party”s central leadership for not providing adequate resources in the contest. The BJP, on the other hand, was on the offensive right from the word go. While prime minister Narendra Modi led the campaign in three rounds to the state, other senior leaders like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Amit Shah were also in the toe.
“Mafia Hatao,
Pradesh Bachao”
The BJP targetted various corruption cases registered against Virbhadra Singh and his family members with the prime minister openly saying that Virbhadra Singh was a chief minister on bail.
The infamous rape case involving a Shimla schoolgirl added grist to the grind, more so because the investigation in the case was botched up by the state police, and the CBI investigations pinned down senior police officers for their inept handling of the case. It became a potent stick in the hands of the BJP to beat the Congress with all around the state as the run-up to the elections saw state-wide protests that effectively dented the image of the Congress.
In a way it was the Congress  government’s poor governance that came strongly under hammer after the state seemed to be failing on all fronts. Under these circumstances the BJP”s campaign hitched on “mafia hatao, pradesh bachao” did the trick more effectively to swing the votes than any things else or the BJP it would be an onerous task to live up to the hopes of the people and  lend a push to the Modi’s juggernaut in the run-up to 2019 challenge.                                    n