Cong makes inroads into cow belt

Aditi TandonTribune News Service

New Delhi, December 11

The Congress made inroads in the Hindi heartland —sweeping Chhattisgarh, surging ahead of the ruling BJP in Rajasthan and giving a tough fight in Madhya Pradesh — clearly signalling its revival ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Although the party plummeted in Mizoram and Telangana, where it had hoped to counter the TRS in alliance with the TDP, its losses in these two states were more than compensated by the gains in the cow belt — a BJP stronghold with deep RSS penetration and Hindutva resonance.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, saying his party had won because the people believed Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “corrupt”.

The Gandhi scion, who was elected AICC president this day (December 11) a year ago, credited the wins to party workers and called BJP’s 2019 Lok Sabha win an impossibility.

Addressing a conference at the AICC headquarters, where he was flanked by leaders Ahmed Patel, Randeep Surjewala, Anand Sharma and Navjot Sidhu, he said: “I think with a resurgent Congress and united Opposition, it will become very difficult for the PM to win 2019. The message is clear. The country is not happy with demonetisation, GST and lack of jobs. Our ideology will defeat the BJP in 2019.”

He spoke of drafting a new vision for the 21st century India, a “vision rooted in solutions for joblessness, agrarian distress, corruption and economic mismanagement of the BJP”.

Hopeful of building a larger anti-BJP coalition, he said the BSP and the SP, that had skipped the Opposition meeting on Monday, would eventually come on board as their ideology was anti-BJP. The Congress chief attributed failed alliances with the BSP and SP in Chhattisgarh and MP to “issues of seat-sharing” but said talks with these parties would continue.

AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot and Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh credited the party's electoral success to the Congress president and his campaign which, they said, had left PM Modi “speechless”.

The results are being seen as precursor to the 2019 Lok Sabha trends. TMC chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tweeted, “Semifinal proves the BJP is nowhere in all the states. This is a real democratic indication of 2019 final match. Ultimately, people are always the ‘man of the match’ of democracy. My congratulations to the winners (sic).”

Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh together send 65 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The BJP currently has 59 of these 65 MPs. The Congress hopes to make substantial gains next year. The Assembly results will further cement Rahul’s hold on the party organisation and as head of a potential anti-BJP alliance.

Insiders spoke with admiration about Rahul's gamble of fighting the elections in the three states without a CM face paying off. “His acceptability in the Opposition camp will get a boost,”observed a party veteran, reading the results in the cow belt as a “stemming of the Congress electoral decline” that began in 2013 with these state.

However, history is replete with examples of why the Congress must not read too much into today’s outcome. The late BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not lead the BJP to victory in the 2004 polls despite the party’s victory in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and MP before that.

Opposition leaders, seeing the results as a referendum on PM Modi, said the Congress needed to build a credible counter-narrative to stay in the 2019 game, which must go beyond Modi-bashing. Rahul seems to realise this urgency. “Other than attacking the current dispensation for failing to give India a vision, the Congress will work on a new vision for India. We gave a vision in 1991 and also with the Green Revolution. We will give it again (sic),” he said in his victory speech.

On the downside, the Congress lost its last citadel in the Northeast where the MNF made a clean sweep. The BJP now has a sway in the NE states which together account for 24 Lok Sabha seats.

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Gandhi to decide CM

Jaipur: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will meet here at 11 am on Wednesday to reach a consensus on the CLP leader.  AICC general secretary Avinash Pandey, however, said the final decision would be taken by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Raje resigns

Jaipur: Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Tuesday night tendered her resignation to Governor Kalyan Singh at Raj Bhawan. “Respecting the public mandate in the Assembly polls, I resign from the Chief Minister’s post,” she wrote. Accepting the resignation, the Governor asked her to continue till the new government is formed. OC

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Will fulfil loan waiver promise

"We will start process to waive farm loans... waiver a supporting step but no solution. We will give farmers support, infrastructure, technology. It’s challenging but it will happen"  — Rahul Gandhi, Congress president

Arrogance cost BJP dear 

"Kahin khushi kahin gham… Didn’t I warn you about the writing on the wall. And that truth shall prevail. Hard hitting... and well deserving. Truth has prevailed at last " — Shatrughan Sinha, BJP MP from Patna Sahib 

Public can tell jumlas now

"Public knows everything... is now wise enough to discern the jumlas. MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan... Only Lord Rama knows and the public knows what lay in store. — Lalu Prasad, RJD national president 

Power of bigwigs gone

"Jab ek aur ek milkar bante hai 11, tab badey bado ki satta ho jaati hai nau do gyaarah (when one and all come together, the power of the bigwigs eventually fade away." — Akhilesh Yadav, SP president

People are man of the match

"The BJP is nowhere in the semifinal ahead of the final match in 2019. People are always the ‘man of the match’ in a democracy. This is victory against injustice." — Mamata banerjee, West Bengal CM

Nation made arrogance-free

"The intentions of making India ‘Congress-free, Opposition-free’ show the arrogance of BJP… The people have made this nation ‘arrogance-free’ by voting out BJP." — HD Deve Gowda, former Prime Minister

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PROMINENT WINNERS

Ajit Jogi
JCC (J) (Votes: 74,041)
Marwahi 

Akbaruddin Owaisi 
AIMIM (Votes: 95,339)
Chandrayangutta

KTR Rao (TRS) 
TRS (Votes: 1,25,213)
Sircilla

Lal Chand Kataria
Congress (Votes: 1,27,185)
Jhotwara

YASHODHARA RAJE SCINDIA
BJP (Votes: 84,570)
Shivpuri

PROMINENT LOSERS

Manvendra Singh 
Congress (Votes: 81,504)
Jhalarapatan

Yoonus Khan 
BJP (Votes: 54,861)
Tonk

Girija Vyas 
Congress (Votes: 65,353)
Udaipur

Lal Thanhawla
Congress (Votes: 5,071)
Serchhip

GHANSHYAM TIWARI
BVP (Votes: 17,371)
Sanganer

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13 of 19 Raje ministers lose

Jaipur: As many as 13 of 19 ministers in the outgoing Vasundhara Raje government lost the Assembly elections in Rajasthan. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her five Cabinet colleagues have won their respective constituencies. A key face among them was Transport Minister Yoonus Khan, who lost the Muslim-dominated seat of Tonk to PCC chief Sachin Pilot. Khan was the only Muslim candidate fielded by the BJP in the state. PHED Minister Surendra Goyal (Jaitaran) and Devsthan Minister Rajkumar Rinwa (Ratangarh) had turned rebel after the BJP denied them ticket and they contested the elections as Independents. Both have lost their respective seats. OC

R’sthan minister wins 8th time

Jaipur: Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria won the assembly elections for the eighth term. Kataria, 74, defeated Congress's Girija Vyas by 9,307 votes in the Udaipur Assembly seat. He has held various political portfolios under BJP governments and also served as party state president. PTI 

13 women elected to C’garh House 

Raipur: Thirteen women have been elected to the Chhattisgarh Assembly in 2018, a rise from the 10 and 11 women who became MLAs after the 2013 and 2008 polls, respectively, a state election official said Tuesday. Of the 13, the Congress leads with nine women MLAs while the BJP has one. This figure was six for the BJP and four for the Congress in the 2013 polls, the official said. Renu Jogi, wife of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, who was with Congress in 2013, also won her Assembly seat.  PTI

Rahul’s stature has risen: RJD

Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Tuesday described the poll results as a mandate against the policies of the Modi government. "The victory has raised AICC president Rahul Gandhi's stature as a leader. The Mahagathbandhan too will benefit from it in the Lok Sabha elections", the party claimed. Its national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari said: “All secular forces want to defeat the BJP. Being a bigger party, the Congress role will certainly be bigger than that of regional parties.” TNS

NOTA gets more votes than AAP

New Delhi: The NOTA (none of the above) option appeared to have outperformed several parties, including AAP and Samajwadi Party, in the five states. As per the EC, the NOTA votes ranged as high as 2.1% in Chhattisgarh to 0.5%  in Mizoram. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested 85 of 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, got 0.9% of votes, while NOTA votes were 2.1%. In MP, NOTA votes were 1.5%. The SP got 1% while AAP got 0.7%. The NOTA votes in Rajasthan elections were 1.3%. The CPM and SP got 1.3% and 0.2%. 

In fix over ‘won’t shave’ pledge

Hyderabad: The wait of Telangana Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who vowed not to shave his beard till Congress comes to power in the state, just got longer with the party-led alliance slumping to a heavy defeat in the Assembly elections. Reddy, a former Indian Air Force pilot who always looked clean-shaved, won from Huzurnagar constituency by over 8,200 votes.  “I will maintain beard till Congress comes to power in Telangana,” he had said in 2016 after becoming Telangana Congress chief. 

4 Cong rebels win in R’sthan

Jaipur: Four rebel Congress candidates who won as Independent in Rajasthan may help the party form the next government in the state. Former Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Ashok Gehlot government, Babu Lal Nagar (Dudu), Raj Kumar Gaur (Ganganagar), Sanyam Lodha (Sirohi) and Alok Beniwal (Shahpura) are the Congress rebels who have won. “The Congress rebels will be supporting the party,” a senior party leader said.