Monday, August 25, 2014

By-Election Result: What it means?

By-election results surprised quite a few. It was first major vote since the General elections earlier this year. Some even called it a feedback on 100 days of the much celebrated Govt.
Outcome seems far from promising for the ruling party. Grand alliance in Bihar have triumphed. Karnataka and Punjab are also not a good omen.
Besides General elections, the biggest achievement of the PM seems to be bringing together the cut-throat foes in Bihar. To gain some perspective we only have to look back
There has always been a consolidation against the ruling party, however the ideological differences may be. JDU-BJP alliance of the past; NC joining NDA Govt. are just some examples. Late 70’s saw anti-Congress forces coming together only to fall apart. Such were their opposing beliefs. It was not until Vajpayee’s management that different ideologues learned to work together under the Common Minimum Program (CMP).
The CMP coalition method perfected by Vajpayee has come back to haunt BJP. Now that Congress has become irrelevant, regional parties have found a new foe. What confounds me is that the once anti-Congress parties have become anti-BJP. Perhaps they were always anti-ruling. It’s what gave them their anti-establishment credentials; a channel for much abused poor to vent out its anger.
The future seems even trickier for BJP. It has got a feel of Congress’ shoes. What a collective onslaught feels like; the fort getting attacked. It never saw a bigger victory and it will have to see even bigger opposition.

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