New Delhi, November 10
Widely viewed as a dress rehearsal for a string of forthcoming Assembly elections over the coming two years, the byelection results of today from across seven states may well prove to be proverbial game changers with the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party (SP) being handed down a severe drubbing in their strongholds.
Continuing with its winning streak after last month’s Assembly elections, the Congress registered a major victory in the all-important Ferozabad Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where its candidate Raj Babbar defeated SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s “bahu” Dimple Yadav. Although the Congress was able to win only one (Lucknow-West) of the 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, its poor showing was more than compensated by its victory in Ferozabad.
The party won eight Assembly seats in other states, including three in Kerala, where the ruling Left Front suffered a huge blow. Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was unstoppable in West Bengal, where she won seven of the 10 Assembly seats, showing clearly that her party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections was not a flash in the pan and that she was well set to dethrone the well-entrenched Communist government in the next Assembly elections.
If Mamata Banerjee was riding the winds of change in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP leader Mayawati proved she was no push-over either as her party swept aside her bete noire, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP in his very own bastion. The BSP picked up seven seats, while the SP failed to register even a single win.
The SP’s decline, particularly in the Yadav belt of Etawah, is being attributed to the blatant manner in which Mulayam Singh Yadav has been promoting his family members. His son Akhilesh Yadav, brothers Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav and nephew Dharemndra Yadav are already in Parliament and the UP Assembly. His decision to field his daughter-in-law from Ferozabad proved to be last straw, as it fuelled strong resentment in the Yadav community that had been the SP’s main support base.
Today’s results have re-energised the Congress that believes the Ferozabad win can prove to be a turning point for it, as it sees the next electoral battle in the key state of Uttar Pradesh to be a direct face-off between the BSP and the Congress. Encouraged by its victory, AICC in charge of UP Digvijay Singh declared, “The SP’s support base has cracked.” The Congress would contest the next Assembly elections on its
own, he added.
Besides Uttar Pradesh, the Congress had reason to be pleased with its
performance in Kerala, where it managed to wrest all three seats from the Left Front, where the Communists paid a heavy price for internal factional feuds. The result was even more galling for the ruling LDF as the AP Abdullakutty, the Congress winner from Kannur, was with the CPM till a few months back.
“The basic reason for this result is the blurring of lines between the state administration and party cadres. All political parties should learn a lesson from this,” remarked Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi.
Despite the gloss that its leaders put on today’s results, the Congress leaders admitted the party also has its share of worries. For instance, it was able to win only one of the 11 Assembly seats in UP. Admitting that they still have a long way to go, Dwivedi said “A lot more needs to be done by us at the ground level,” he said.
Another cause for concern for the Congress is the bitter infighting in its Himachal Pradesh unit, where it lost the Rohru seat to the BJP for the first time in 35 years. Considered to be former CM Virbhadra Singh’s stronghold, this result is a wake-up call to the faction-ridden party to put its house in order.
