BJP and Congress claim victory will be theirs

A day before counting of votes for the Assembly elections in five states, the mood in the Congress is of elation while the BJP is somewhat sombre. But there is trepidation is in both camps.

With the ruling party in power in three of the five states, clearly, the stakes are higher for the BJP.

Since the outcomes will have a cascading effect on the next general elections, both the parties are reaching out to smaller parties in the three Hindi belt states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in case they fall short of numbers and the role of BSP is being watched.

BSP and SP did not attend the Opposition unity meeting in Delhi on Monday, the first time in the last many years for SP in particular.

While most concede that the Congress and TRS have a clear edge in Rajasthan and Telangana, the contest in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is still being considered a tight one, which can tilt either way.

Suddenly, there is a flurry of activities at the AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road though most of the top leaders were busy attending back-to-back meetings of Opposition and Parliamentary coordination with the government.

In Madhya Pradesh, even posters have come up celebrating the ‘sarkar of Congress” though BJP is repeatedly asserting that “only the lotus will bloom”.

Referring to a television news investigation, BJP also sought to project the “misinformation campaign around EVM tampering” by the Congress citing a video clip purportedly showing that Madhya Pradesh Congress election agents are caught on camera admitting that the EVM conspiracy theory was fabricated.

A confidant Kamal Nath, however, said EVM or no EVM, Congress will win the elections. Clearly, to keep the morale of the party high and make the cadre battle ready, BJP chief Amit Shah has gone over to destination next calling a meeting of party state in-charges of 29 states on Thursday to chalk out a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls.

Both the parties are, however, leaving no opportunity to slam each other as the D-Day is hours away.
Riding on the wave of positive exit poll predictions, an apparently elated Congress on Monday latched on to the abrupt resignation of RBI Governor Urjit Patel and launched a fusillade of punches on the BJP.

While the Congress was in a combative mood at the all-party meeting with Rahul Gandhi reaffirming the party’s “steadfast resolve to confront and defeat”, Amit Shah released a book, ‘Narendra Modi: Creative Disruptor - The Maker of New India’ and hit out at Congress saying “those who have run the nation for 55 years ask what has been done in the nation to those who have run it only for four-and-half years.”

The upbeat mood of the BJP after the extradition order of liquor baron Vijay Mallya was dampened by the resignation of Union Minister and NDA ally Upendra Kushwaha from the Council of Ministers in the afternoon.
In the evening, there was another shock announcement — RBI Governor’s Urjit Patel’s sudden resignation, giving the Opposition a chance to target the government a day before the winter session begins on a tumultuous note. A victory or defeat in the state polls tomorrow can well define the contours of not only next Parliamentary session but the political discourse outside as well in months ahead.