Bypoll results make it clear that the Congress is unable to check saffron party in any way
If anyone thought that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which has evoked a good response, is rejuvenating the Congress, the results of seven byelections in different States would come as a dampener. Equally importantly, the results don’t exhibit many signs that the shortcomings of the Governments under the Bharatiya Janata Party, both at the Centre and in States, are hurting the electoral prospects of the saffron party. The BJP’s famed election machine — some say the party itself is such a machine — is as sturdy and efficacious as it ever was. The Congress’ gradual marginalisation was evident from the nature of the contests, which were primarily between the BJP on the one hand and such regional parties as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Biju Janata Dal. At Munugode in Telangana, for instance, the candidate representing the grand old party came third; the seat was won by TRS. In the Adampur bypoll in Haryana, the BJP’s Bhavya Bishnoi defeated Congress candidate Jai Prakash by nearly 16,000 votes. Sympathy played a big role in the byelections. The BJP’s Aman Giri, son of former party MLA Arvind Giri, defeated the SP candidate and former Gola Gokarannath MLA Tiwari in the Gola Gokarannath Assembly seat in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh with a margin of over 34,000 votes. Similarly, in Gopalganj in Bihar, the BJP’s Kusum Devi defeated the RJD candidate, though by a narrow margin. She is the wife of the late BJP MLA Subhash Singh.
Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav’s party, however, managed to retain the Mokama Assembly seat. For Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the byelection in Andheri (East) in Mumbai was a cakewalk as most parties did not field their candidates against her. She is the widow of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke. The second highest vote getter in her constituency was NOTA or None of The Above option. In Dhamnagar in Odisha, the BJP won the seat. It would be premature to draw any conclusions from the seven bypolls scattered in several States. It may even be difficult to see any trends from the results, but they certainly strengthen the impression that the Congress is increasingly weakening, if not fading out. Rahul Gandhi’s hard work may be admirable; Congress leaders’ comments and barbs against BJP Governments and leaders are often smart and pointed; but in pure electoral terms, the smarts and articulation are not helping the party. At the same time, none of the faults and failings of the BJP seem to be hurting it at the poll booth. Inflation remains persistently high; jobs are not getting generated; the promised achhe din are nowhere on the horizon. Not much has changed at the ground level, the tall promises notwithstanding; this is evident from the Morbi tragedy. The BJP marches on nonetheless; and the Congress remains in the ICU.