New Delhi, India:
India’s opposition faces a “tough task” in next year’s general elections against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won control of key states with a surprisingly strong showing in local elections. have taken.
The Congress’s defeat in all three key states, announced on Sunday, dashed any notion that the opposition could mount a serious challenge through the newly formed 28-party alliance led by the party that won independence from Britain. After this he ruled India for 54 years. , analysts and politicians said.
Organization was also demonstrated in this The strength of the BJP and the appeal of Modi’s presidential-style campaign appeal, even if he was not on the ticket, just five months before national elections in which he will seek a third term in office.
C-Voter agency’s election expert Yashwant Deshmukh said, “After these results, it seems that no one will be able to stop Modi.” He said stopping Modi would be a “tough task”. The BJP won regional votes in three of the four key states, including central Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which were ruled by the Congress.
Modi came to power in 2014 on a path of stability and development, despite what he described as Congress corruption and bad governance. He consolidated his victory by winning a second term in 2019 by boosting the economy, offering more welfare and pushing an aggressive brand of Hindu nationalism.
He remains popular and surveys show that he is the favorite to win the 2024 elections.
Reading BJP is set to win in three of the four major states of India to boost Modi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has worked hard to revive the party in recent years. He led a 135-day march across the country, replaced the party’s leadership and pushed to form a 28-party alliance called Bharatiya Janata Party to woo voters with payments.
Congress’s victory in the large southern state of Karnataka this year was seen by the party as the beginning of its comeback – until Sunday’s results came and instead prompted introspection within the party.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and seriously assess what exactly went wrong, why we were not able to regain the trust of the people,” senior Congress lawmaker Manish Tewari told Reuters. “You need a program that gets people excited, that will be seen as an alternative.”
One of the challenges faced by the opposition is factional relations within the Bharat alliance.
The Congress refused to share seats with key regional ally Samajwadi Party in the state elections. Spokesman Manoj Kaka told Reuters that the Congress did not appear to be “fully committed” to the alliance.
“If the Congress party works on this with full commitment, the future of the alliance is good,” he said.
Asked about the future of the alliance, senior Congress leader and close aide of Gandhi KC Venugopal said the alliance partners will hold talks soon. He declined to elaborate.
Party vice-president Baijayant Panda said the BJP now expects a “huge victory” after Sunday.
“Serious infighting among themselves has left this so-called alliance with no hope of posing any challenge to the BJP,” Panda said.
