Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh may be too far from the State but the Monday poll outcomes have their bearings on political outfits, especially national units in the form of BJP and the Congress. Soon after the trends started suggesting victory for the saffron party, leaders and workers gathered at the BJP state headquarters hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national president Amit Shah.
With lots of fire crackers being blown up and sweets distributed at the BJP office, the Congress headquarters witnessed a stark contrast where very few known and big faces in the State unit were seen loitering around.
First reaction came from Chief Minister Raghubar Das who tweeted hailing the twin wins and congratulating the Prime Minister and the party president for the show well before the final tally arrived late in the evening.
Although the BJP could not repeat its previous performance in Gujarat but it was sufficient for the leaders like Arjun Munda to cheer about. “The results are very positive for us. I have been there and campaigned for the party in tribal-dominated areas extensively. I had got the sense that confidence of the people is intact with the BJP and they wanted the journey of development to continue,” said the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand who toured the poll bound State during electioneering.
When asked about reasons behind reduced seat tally in the State that has been the strongest bastion for the BJP, Munda said that the figures are for minute analysis and debate. “These inputs would be looked into but a win is a win. We have got massive mandate in Himachal Pradesh, isn’t itIJ,” Munda quipped.
Nevertheless, the Congress sounded moist with the outcomes but at the same the party leaders drew some positive, particularly about the leadership of newly elevated national president Rahul Gandhi. “Rahul Gandhi fought like Abhimanyu. BJP could save itself by a whisker. Even if they won, the prestige of the Prime Minister’s post was lost in the election in Gujarat. For us, it is important that now the people would start questioning their claims about ‘Gujarat model’,” said former PCC president and MlA Sukhdeo Bhagat.
He expressed hope that the fine prints of the Gujarat results would kick start the “retreat of Modi era. People would now be negating his style of politics and his tall claims have been exposed. I can also see its imprints in Jharkhand in the days to come. People walking on his footmarks and resorting to jumlebaji of his kind are not going to sustain for too long,” said Bhagat.
On the other, major Opposition party JMM also sees this as a hint ahead of 2019 polls. “BJP lost despite the victory and its seats came down in Gujarat which is the homeland of the Prime Minister and BJP president. Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a role model for the citizens in this election and he would give a tough fight to PM Modi in 2019. The BJP would face the consequences in Jharkhand during 2019 polls,” said JMM executive president Hemant Soren.
Party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya felt that dwindling magic of the PM would hit the BJP chances in future in Jharkhand with grown up regional aspirations of the people and also being a multi-party State.