Though the BJP won 11 seats in Saturday's Rajya Sabha elections,it should not take this as its major political gain because the results from UP should upset the ruling BJP.In fact the Samajwadi Party,led by Mulayam Singh Yadav,whose son Akhilesh Yadav is the Chief Minister,has demonstrated that it is on the path of progress having won seven seats.This is a matter of great concern for the BJP which is trying to wrest power from the SP in Uttar Pradcsh where the Assembly election is scheduled tobe held next year.Though the Congress has emerged with a bruised face it does not feel nervous because it is trying to forge a grand alliance among the like-minded political parties as was done in Bihar where Nitesh Kumar retained power only because of his joining hands with the RJD,Congress and other smaller parties.The way the BSP has supported the Congress candidate in UP and Uttarakhand indicates that it may ultimately support the Congress leaving the BJP alone to contest the Assembly poll in Uattar Pradesh.After the 2015 Lok Sabha win Prime Minister,Narendra Modi's image is losing its charisma which has been responsible for the BJP defeat in Bihar,Uttarakhand and Delhi.It has won from Assam but it has a long way to go so far its mission of winning power in UP is concerned.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party maximised its gains in recent Rajya Sabha polls, winning 11 seats on its symbol, while ensuring that one more candidate, media baron Subhash Chandra, an Independent who was backed by the party, defeated a Congress-INLD backed Independent in Haryana.For the Congress, the news should have been good too, as four of the six seats that it won were secured with support from friendly parties: the bad news for the party came from Haryana, where the candidate it had backed, senior lawyer R.K. Anand, lost because 15 votes intended for him were rejected.The second seat in Haryana was won by Union Rural Development Minister Birender Singh.The elections to 27 Rajya Sabha seats, spread across seven States, saw the BJP win 11 with four going to sitting central ministers and the Congress winning six. The Samajwadi Party secured seven seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party two, while a BJP-supported Independent won one.Earlier, 30 of the total 57 seats in the current round of biennial elections to the Upper House were decided without a contest.In Karnataka, the Congress demonstrated its political skills: it won not just the two seats for which it had the votes - electing Jairam Ramesh and Oscar Fernandes - but a third as well, with eight JD(S) rebel MLAs supporting the Congress candidate to ensure the victory of K.C. Ramamurthy, former IPS officer and Chairman,CMR Group of Institutions.
Well with a win on 11 seats the BJP is yet to get absoilute majority in the upper House.It wants to be in the riders seat so that bill nd resolutions,stuck in the House,were adopted and that is possible if the BJP wins more seats.That is not as much important as the winning of UP elections.What seems to upset the calculation of the BJP is the wanning image of Modi and the possibility of the Congress forging a grand alliance with the SP,RJD and other regional groups on the pattgern of Bihar where BJP could not retain power.Had not the Congress mooted the idea of forming a grand alliance Nitish Kumar would have not been able to retain power.This is the worry for the BJP.This can be countered if the BJP manages to improve its performance within the country.Yes,there is no doubt Modi has emerged a great leader on the international scene but he needs to tackle some problems within India and if done the BJP could prove a major challenge for the grand alliance in UP. |
