Bye-poll results: Time for BJP to set its house in order

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: For BJP, bye-poll results have come as a bag of mixed fortunes. There is much to rejoice at the performance of BJP in Assam and Madhya Pradesh where the party made a resounding sweep, but much to worry for in four other states. In Assam, BJP won all the five Assembly seats whereas in Madhya Pradesh it retained its Khandwa Lok Sabha seat and lost one Assembly seat but won back two. In fact, of the three LS seats, BJP won only the seat of Khandwa in MP and of 29 Assembly seats, it bagged 7.

The main rival Congress could claim to be on the path of recovery by clinching the Mandi LS seat from BJP in Himachal Pradesh and 8 Assembly seats in Himachal (3) all taken away from the saffron party, two in Rajasthan and one each in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Despite reverses in Himachal Pradesh, BJP, however, can draw solace from the fact that its ally JDU bagged both the Assembly seats in Bihar and MNF, NEDA partner, won one in Mizoram.

The immediate Assembly polls of 2022 in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, New Delhi, Punjab, Manipur and Goa can have impact of these bye poll results. Poll observers have described them as litmus test for political parties in the reckoning. Of these 7 states going to polls in 2022, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur and Goa are BJP ruled. Delhi and Punjab are AAP and Congress governed respectively. BJP has much at stake and the results of just concluded by polls have set top leaders go for introspection, particularly the setbacks the party suffered in West Bengal where it lost all the 4 Assembly seats including the two it won six months ago. Most humiliating, 3 candidates lost their deposits.

Defeats in Himachal Pradesh have come as big blow to Saffron leaders who are yet to analyse and find out the causes behind it. Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur, has ascribed the defeat to price rise. But, the leaders seem to be disconnected from the people from the grass root levels unlike Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma or MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her TMC might have outsmated BJP, but their strategy to create fear-psychosis in opponents is well known.

No doubt, price rise and unemployment have come handy for opposition to beat BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a masterstroke by reducing VAT from petrol and diesel as Deepawali gift to people and called upon the states to do the same. BJP ruled states have done it. Observers think this will go a long way to smoothen the poll pitch for the Saffron party. Leaders and workers who have become Modi-centric should connect with common people like Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma as opined by well known anchor Rajat Sharma of India TV in his analysis of bye-poll results.

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