Encouraged by results, BJP’s J&K unit to push for early polls

The Grand Old Party may have survived the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plans for creating a “Congress-free India” but the resignation with which its leadership is accepting successive defeats is demoralising and frustrating the average Congress worker.

The cadre do not find merit in the “wait-till-the-tide-changes” attitude of the leadership and wonder if anything can break the free fall. With Maharashtra and Haryana gone, the Congress now has nine States in its kitty and the fear is that two more may go to the BJP pretty soon.

Elections are due in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir over the next few months.

While the floods had cast some doubts on whether elections can be held in the J&K as scheduled, Sunday’s results have encouraged the State unit of the BJP to advocate early polls.

“These victories have further resolved the BJP’s position ahead of the J&K elections and the party will now want to hold the polls on time. I believe they will sweep Jammu. They will win all the Hindu areas in Jammu and if the Muslim votes get divided in the Chenab and Pir Panjal belt — where there are both communities — the BJP will take up to 25 seats. This is the strongest BJP force in J&K we have ever seen,” chief spokesperson of the People’s Democratic Party told The Hindu.

However, maintaining that these victories will not be replicated in J&K, Congress State vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga said: “There is no chance for the BJP in the Valley and I think even Jammu will vote much more sensibly and for the Congress. In Maharashtra and Haryana, the vote is more an anti-incumbency vote than a pro-BJP or pro-Modi vote. The people wanted to replace the incumbent government and the BJP gained from that.”

In Jharkhand, the Congress is drawing solace from the growing trend among voters to reject regional parties.

“So being a national party, the Congress will now get an advantage from this trend to counter the BJP in the upcoming polls. We welcome this electoral trend,” Jharkhand Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat said.

However, like other parties, the Congress, too, appears to be in fragile health in Jharkhand. Currently in alliance with the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress is fishing for other regional allies like the RJD, JD (U) and AJSU for the formation of a Bihar-like “grand alliance” to counter the Narendra Modi surge.

Though the BJP State unit also faces factionalism, the party is hoping to replicate the Maharashtra and Haryana formula by riding on the coat-tails of Mr. Modi in Jharkhand too.

(With inputs from Zahid Rafiq in Jharkhand and Amarnath Tewary in Patna)