India’s political infant, Aam Admi Party (AAP), led by anti-corruption
crusaders Arvind Kejriwal and Yogendra Yadav, have emerged the show
stopper in the Delhi state elections, leading in 24 of the 70 seats in
the Indian capital.
The Hindu nationalist BJP was ahead in 32, still looking to fall
slightly short of the 35-seat mark needed to form government. The
Congress, which rules Delhi and India, has been decimated in the
capital- and in two large states, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Leads in Delhi on Sunday showed Arvind Kejriwal ahead in the
constituency of New Delhi, where he is in a direct contest with Sheila
Dikshit, whose bid for a fourth attempt at chief minister has been
firmly rejected by voters. Dikshit is close to Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi. The Congress has been decimated in the capital, as it was
leading in only 11 seats.
BJP leaders, while happy at their possible return to power in Delhi
after staying out of it for three terms, admitted they “did not expect
a newcomer (AAP) with no real agenda to do this well.”
But AAP’s Yogendra Yadav told bdnews24.com that the citizens have
really “latched on to our anti-corruption crusade”.
“Our party doesn’t worry about things like who will be chief minister.
We worry about how to help the country,” Kejriwal said early this
morning, a checked scarf wrapped tightly around him. Then he went into
his office to meditate.
The BJP’s Nirmala Sitharaman said her party acknowledges that the “new
kid on the block” has proven it’s a force to reckon with.
But she said the AAP may find it tough to sustain its current
popularity all the way to the national election, due by May. She said
the BJP will factor in the likelihood of the AAP stealing a share of
the anti-Congress vote in the parliamentary election.
“We are not interested in breaking the AAP, or trying to take some of
its candidates,” she said on NDTV. Earlier on Sunday, AAP leaders said
some of their candidates are being approached by the
BJP to switch sides to help them form a government in Delhi.
The BJP had just forged ahead of the Congress in the 90-member
Chattisgarh assembly in Maoist-infested central India, looking like
retaining the state, but just about..
Until last reports, the BJP was leading in 42 seats and had won seven
already. The Congress was leading in 38 seats.
But in the two large states that went to polls with Delhi and
Chattisgarh, the BJP was heading for a sweep and the Congress was
staring defeat in the face.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan was
leading his party to victory, with BJP candidates leading in 145 seats
against Congress candidates leading in only 60 in the 230-member
assembly.
In Rajasthan, former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, a
scion of the Gwalior princely family, was looking to lead her party
back to power in the Congress-ruled state.
BJP candidates were leading in 136 seats, the Congress in only 30, in
a 199-member house.
“We are headed for a sweep,” Raje told bdnews24.com.”I thank my
workers, they have worked very hard.”
When asked whether the ‘Modi factor’ was responsible, Raje said BJP
projected prime minister candidate Narendra Modi was ‘surely a great
motivator and played a role in our victory’.
But she added: “Our voters are political and their choices are clearly
political. They want good governance and an end to corruption which
Congress had come to symbolise”.
But BJP MP Chandan Mitra said: “Vasundhara has alone put BJP back on
the winning trail in Rajasthan.”
Trends from the Northeastern state of Mizoram, which also went to
polls with these four states, were not immediately available. –
bdnews24.com
