state elections set the tone for the general elections

THE MUCH-awaited and anticipated result of the so-called semi-final of the political battle between the two largest national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress is out. This fight was the penultimate clash between the parties before reaching out to the masses in the next general elections scheduled for early next year. Both the parties left no stone unturned to market themselves and become the popular choice ahead of the major battle. The semi-final has been a mixed bag for both the parties. For some candidates it has been a Christmas gift, where the voters played Santa while for others, it has been an opportunity to take a re-look at their strategies, before going for a political Holi. With a tie in the semis, in the four Hindi-speaking states and with the score level at two each, the Congress has an edge having bagged Mizoram where it won 32 seats out of 40. In the 2003 elections Congress managed only 12. This will really boost the morale of the Congress top brass. The BJP should be happy too because it has overcome the anti-incumbency factor in Madhya- Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP won 143 out of 230 seats, 30 below the 2003 mark. This should be a wake-up call for the BJP as the major gainer here is the Congress with 70 seats - a rise of 32 seats from the 2003 elections. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP managed 50 seats out of 90, the same as in 2003. This shows that the very popular Raman-effect has been a success with the masses. Also, the Rs 3 per Kg of rice under the public distribution scheme (PDS) has been widely appreciated. Before the elections, Dr Raman Singh was accused of being the chief minister of just 665 regions of Chhattisgarh, the rest being Naxal-affected. Also, corruption was a key issue during his tenure, which he promised to look into after his win. On the other hand, Congress was not considered the hot favourite because of the rocketing inflation and back-to-back terror attacks. But their win in Rajasthan and Delhi has been a morale booster and given them some time to plan for the next D-Day. In Rajasthan, the Congress won 96 out of the 200 seats - five short of the majority required to form the government. For the five seats needed, they are optimistic of enrolling the support of independents (14). Here, the fall of Vasundhra Raje and the phoenix-like rise of Congress is popularly credited to caste-based politics and the BJP’s failure to handle the Gujjar-Meena outburst. The BJP has registered a sharp downfall from the 2003 elections. In 2003, the BJP won 120 while in 2008 it managed only 78- a huge difference of 42 seats. However, Delhi was in the spotlight. Both the parties used all the weapons at their disposal to capture Delhi. BJP campaigned with their star campaigner Narendra Modi and the PM-in-waiting, LK Advani while the Congress moved ahead with its youth-led campaign, with Rahul Gandhi leading from the front and showcasing the Congress-led development projects. With the not-so-popular VK Malhotra as their candidate for the top job in Delhi, BJP won a mere 23 out of the 69 seats. Congress bagged 42 and the BSP, 2. It was assumed that the Maya factor could thwart Dixit’s next term but the results ruled out any such possibility. However, BSP has reasons to cheer up. The party bagged 14 per cent of the votes polled, according to estimates. As of now, the political dust has settled but it will be interesting to see how the voters react in the general election. In the state elections, regional factors matter most. But in the Lok Sabha elections, national issues take the centre stage. With both the parties ending on a satisfactory note the preparations for the next battle will definitely involve a lot of brain-storming for all the parties including the BSP, which is widely viewed as the kingmaker. As Winston Churchill said, “Politics is too serious a business to be left to the Generals.” Hence, the political bigwigs need to come out with concrete plans for the next round of clash in the finals before settling down after the recent semis.