The BJP comfortably regained control in Chhattisgarh on Sunday, dislodging the five-year rule of the Congress by winning 54 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

The BJP was in power in the State for 15 years consecutively after the creation of the State bifurcated from Madhya Pradesh where too BJP remained the undisputed political party.   

The Chhattisgarh outcome was a surprise for many, as the Congress had high hopes of retaining power in the State. The promises made by the BJP, promoted as 'Modi ki Guarantee 2023,' seemed to have worked in its favor in the tribal-dominated State, where it secured a thumping majority.

In the 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress had registered a landslide victory largely because of a “strong” anti-incumbency against the then BJP dispensation and the grand old party's promise of freebies and welfare measures. In the outgoing Assembly, the Congress presently has 71 members, BJP 13, JCC (J) 3 and BSP 2 while one seat lying vacant.

The BJP this time made populist promises in its manifesto, titled ‘Modi ki Guarantee 2023' for Chhattisgarh.

They included procurement of 21 quintals of paddy per acre at Rs 3,100 per quintal, and annual financial assistance of Rs 12,000 to married women under the ‘Mahtari Vandan Yojana'.

Ahead of the State Assembly elections, held in two phases on November 7 and 17, the Congress party was a divided house in Chhattisgarh but it tried to gloss over the differences by elevating State Minister T S Singh Deo, the main challenger to CM Bhupesh Baghel, as the Deputy Chief Minister in June this year.

The BJP, on the other hand, went into the elections without a clear candidate for the CM's post. In the 2018 elections, the Congress had ended the BJP's 15-year run to come to power, and Bhupesh Baghel became the CM.

Not only Chhattisgarh, the running feud for five years in between Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh in Madhya Pradesh and an open war of words between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot were among the big factors that went against the Congress while the BJP focused on its ideology more followed by State suited schemes as announcements.

The results of the Assembly elections have come as a bitter lesson for the Congress and the larger Opposition Bloc, which will now have to rediscover its election narrative to take on a resurgent BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.