Rahul just made BJP’s job for 2019 a bit more difficult
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 12.12.2018
Congress’s success on Tuesday invests Rahul Gandhi’s campaign themes with a credibility and lethality they so far seemed to lack and make BJP’s job for 2019 that much more difficult. To that extent, the 2019 polls may turn out to be a quasi-presidential duel between him and Modi.
Next summer’s contest still remains a battle for Modi and BJP to lose. The findings of exit polls, which called the elections right, also attested to the PM continuing to be the most popular politician.
By all accounts, the 15-year incumbency of BJP governments in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh were critical for Congress’s performance in the two states. Both the outgoing chief ministers — Raman Singh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the latter in particular — enjoyed goodwill for being good administrators. But their three stints also rendered them vulnerable to discontent — an inevitability in the “era of escalating aspirations”.
Few expected Raje to defy the state’s revolving-door pattern of politics after she scored a string of self-goals and failed to counter the perception of ‘arrogant aloofness’ that swirled around her. But their defeats also spell the failure of “rescue acts” that the PM and BJP chief Amit Shah mounted. In fact, Congress sought to turn the elections into a referendum on Modi’s measures like demonetisation and GST and allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal.
The success can encourage Congress to conflate the local with the national and sharpen the attack on Modi, focusing on his personal integrity and enhancing the prospect of strong, perhaps even dramatic, counter-measures from the incumbent who is not known for underestimating his opponents. There were already indications of growing receptivity to RSS’s pitch for a legislation to facilitate construction of Ram mandir and the setback may serve to enhance the temptation. The possibility of welfare measures topping finance minister Arun Jaitley’s ‘interim’ budget has grown by a small measure though Modi, who resisted Raman Singh’s ‘SOS’ messages for clearance to allow a loan waiver to match a similar sop by Congress, is unlikely to go to the length KCR traversed to drub Congress and TDP.
Rao’s victory shows the resilience of regional players, underlines the limits of national parties and will make it necessary for both Congress and BJP to woo them. Rahul, while savouring the success, didn’t forget to stretch out a hand of friendship to potential allies who have always found themselves uncomfortable with a powerful Congress. Expect BJP also to take a softer stance from here on.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 12.12.2018
Congress’s success on Tuesday invests Rahul Gandhi’s campaign themes with a credibility and lethality they so far seemed to lack and make BJP’s job for 2019 that much more difficult. To that extent, the 2019 polls may turn out to be a quasi-presidential duel between him and Modi.
Next summer’s contest still remains a battle for Modi and BJP to lose. The findings of exit polls, which called the elections right, also attested to the PM continuing to be the most popular politician.
By all accounts, the 15-year incumbency of BJP governments in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh were critical for Congress’s performance in the two states. Both the outgoing chief ministers — Raman Singh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the latter in particular — enjoyed goodwill for being good administrators. But their three stints also rendered them vulnerable to discontent — an inevitability in the “era of escalating aspirations”.
Few expected Raje to defy the state’s revolving-door pattern of politics after she scored a string of self-goals and failed to counter the perception of ‘arrogant aloofness’ that swirled around her. But their defeats also spell the failure of “rescue acts” that the PM and BJP chief Amit Shah mounted. In fact, Congress sought to turn the elections into a referendum on Modi’s measures like demonetisation and GST and allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal.
The success can encourage Congress to conflate the local with the national and sharpen the attack on Modi, focusing on his personal integrity and enhancing the prospect of strong, perhaps even dramatic, counter-measures from the incumbent who is not known for underestimating his opponents. There were already indications of growing receptivity to RSS’s pitch for a legislation to facilitate construction of Ram mandir and the setback may serve to enhance the temptation. The possibility of welfare measures topping finance minister Arun Jaitley’s ‘interim’ budget has grown by a small measure though Modi, who resisted Raman Singh’s ‘SOS’ messages for clearance to allow a loan waiver to match a similar sop by Congress, is unlikely to go to the length KCR traversed to drub Congress and TDP.
Rao’s victory shows the resilience of regional players, underlines the limits of national parties and will make it necessary for both Congress and BJP to woo them. Rahul, while savouring the success, didn’t forget to stretch out a hand of friendship to potential allies who have always found themselves uncomfortable with a powerful Congress. Expect BJP also to take a softer stance from here on.
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