The Hindu Business Line : The Congress winning streak continues

Chennai, Oct. 22 The Congress’s winning streak continues beyond the Lok Sabha elections. In the first major electoral exercise post the General Elections, it has swept Arunachal Pradesh, managed to win in Maharashtra along with ally, the Nationalist Congress Party, and emerged the single largest party in Haryana, where the Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) Mr Om Prakash Chautala has upset the Congress Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Huda’s pre-poll brag of a two-thirds majority.

By and large, the results have been along expected lines. If the Congress-NCP combine has returned to power a third time, a near impossible feat in recent times, it has to thank Mr Raj Thackeray, whose Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has not only improved its tally by hitting the double-digit, but has also played spoiler for the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in several seats.

The MNS won in the Sena bastions of Dadar, Shivri, and so on in Mumbai, and the BJP spokesperson, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, in his press conference, said that if the MNS had not spoilt the Sena-BJP chances in 40-45 constituencies, it could have formed the government. In a clear indication that internal squabbles within the BJP in the recent past had hurt the party’s performance in these elections, he said the outcome was a lesson “that we should speak in a single voice for the benefit of our cadres.” This is admission enough that when big leaders fight, party cadres get confused and demoralised.

The Congress, of course, cannot thank the MNS enough for aiding its victory! But different leaders took credit by ascribing it to the “good work” done by the Government. If the terrible shame of the Mumbai terror attacks was revisited, it was only by Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, who linked his replacement as Chief Minister post-November 2008 to the attacks. And this too, while answering media queries on whether he would return as CM.

emerges stronger

The race for the CM’s post in the most lucrative State has already begun and the Congress which has done much better than the NCP — anyway the big brother had contested 170 against the NCP’s 112 seats — will be the dominant partner. In 2004, the NCP had won two more than the Congress, and yet was made to concede the CM’s post to the Congress!

Once again, voices will be raised for the merger of the NCP with the Congress but it is doubtful that the NCP chief, Mr Sharad Pawar, will oblige any time soon.

With rebels from both the parties winning seats, there is likelihood of their returning to their parent parties, perhaps, with ministerial berths. A prominent rebel who didn’t make it was the sitting Congress Minister, Mr Sunil Deshmukh, whose seat was given to President Ms Pratibha Patil’s son Mr Raosaheb Shekhawat. Surprisingly, he won!

While the MNS’ much better showing is cause for worry because its Maharashtra-only-for-Marathis mantra can spread to other States, a bit of cheerful news was the defeat of Mr Arun Gawli in Mumbai and Suresh alias Pappu Kalani in Thane district, both linked to the underworld. While Mr Gawli was humbled in Byculla by Congress’ Mr Madhu Chavan, four-time legislator Mr Kalani was defeated by the BJP’s Mr Kumar Ailani.

Though the mandate has gone the Congress-NCP way, the alliance needs to do a lot of introspection. Maharashtra has got less than decent governance in the last few years; whether it is the agrarian crisis or power and water shortage and rise in food prices — the last, of course, is a national phenomenon for which too the ruling Congress-led alliance is to be blamed — the administration’s record is dismal.

The leaders would do well to remember that they managed to scrape through because of the TINA (there is no alternative) factor, and no thanks to any great work done by them.

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