Team News Riveting
New Delhi, March 10
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweeping away opposition parties with its spectacular performance in the four states ruled by it has endorsed its governance model mounted on pillars of welfarism and Hindutva.
It was the development model that helped the saffron party to beat the anti-incumbency in the four states namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa where it had ruled.
The astonishing rise of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party outside its Delhi turf with an unprecedented mandate in Punjab and an entry in Goa, also predicts that the equation in the opposition camp is likely to see a drastic change ahead of the 2024 general elections. Kejriwal now plans to enter states like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
The AAP leaders have given overt signal, it eyes replacing the Congress as the challenger to BJP – something that will further shrink the Congress’ space in the opposition landscape.
With Congress continues to decline, its space for leading the anti-BJP front will further shrinks. The grand-old party has to desperately look for making its presence in the opposition fraternity though it now has to struggle keeping its own house in order.
Biting dust in all five state elections, knives are likely to be out for party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who held the polls. The Congress, which was defending 110 assembly segments across the five states has managed to retain less than half; winning only 54 constituencies today.
Besides, having lost Punjab to new entrant AAP and failing to win any of the other four states despite anti-incumbency against the ruling BJP, the grand old party is down to its worst performance having been left in power in just two states on its own – Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and in alliance in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
