With Opposition victories in Himachal Pradesh, different bypolls and the MCD, the Opposition sought to take a leaf out of it to ensure a united front to stop the BJP juggernaut in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The CPIM said the results of Himachal Pradesh Assembly election and the Delhi civic polls “exposed the BJP’s vulnerability” and brought to the fore the “limits of the much-touted Narendra Modi factor”.
While the Congress suggested a generic view of ‘self introspection, change of strategy and hard work for its dismal performances in Gujarat and the MCD polls, it was elated on registering a massive win in Himachal Pradesh. Promising to meet all expectations of the people of Himachal, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said the party humbly accepts the mandate of the people and will continue to fight for their rights as well as the ideals of the country.
Terming the victory of his party as the win of political rapprochement and a reply to those who have been indulging in negativity, SP president and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav said the result has given new energy and is a message for 2024, when the next Lok Sabha elections are due.
Yadav congratulated Madan Bhaiya of the RLD, an alliance partner of the SP, for winning the Khatauli Assembly segment bypoll. He, however, claimed that people in the Rampur Sadar assembly segment were not allowed to vote. Had there been a fair election in Rampur, it would have been the biggest win for the Samajwadi Party, Yadav added. The BJP won SP leader Azam Khan’s stronghold Rampur Sadar assembly seat for the first time.
Opposition leaders like NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, which are also allies of the Congress, congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BJP victory in Gujarat while saying that projects “taken away” from Maharashtra contributed to the result.
“I congratulate the BJP and PM Modi for the victory in Gujarat which is record-breaking and historic,” Udhhav said. He also took a jibe at the BJP government at the Centre by saying that “the projects which were taken away to Gujarat from Maharashtra also helped in the victory.”
“The opposition parties in Maharashtra have been targeting the BJP over the state recently losing some big-ticket industrial projects to Gujarat. The Aam Aadmi Party divided votes in Gujarat and it clearly benefited the BJP, the Sena leader further remarked.
Addressing the NCP’s state executive meeting, Pawar said, “The Gujarat verdict is on expected lines as the entire power machinery was used for the benefit of one particular state and projects were shifted there.” “The Gujarat results don’t reflect the mood of the country. The results of the civic polls in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh Assembly, where the BJP has been defeated prove that,” the former Union minister said.
Accusing the BJP of deploying “all its resources and the state machinery to try to retain power”, the CPI (M) said, “However, the popular discontent over BJP misrule prevailed.”
About the MCD election results which were announced Wednesday, the Left party said that the people of the national capital “withstood all the blandishments and manoeuvres of the BJP and the Central government.”
“The results of Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have exposed the vulnerability of the BJP despite its huge money power and resources. The limits of the much-touted Modi factor have also come to the fore. The opposition parties should draw proper lessons from these results and draw up plans to put up an effective united opposition to the BJP state-wise by marshalling all the forces,” the CPI(M) said in a statement.
“The projection of a pan-Hindu identity along with the rhetoric about Gujarati pride have overcome the more vital issues like price rise, unemployment and poor public health and educational facilities,” the party added.
AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people of Gujarat for helping his party breach the BJP’s Gujarat “fortress”, and hoped to win the state in next assembly elections.