As the counting of votes in five states – Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram – is underway, the Bharatiya Janata Patry (BJP) seems to be losing its grip in the Hindi heartland, ie, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while the battle is a tight one in Madhya Pradesh.
Congress is leading in the two states and pushing hard in MP. As result day piles pressure on the political parties, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said he will not call the results "victories of Congress" but rather "an anger of the people".
He said, “I won’t say these are victories of Congress but this is an anger of the people. Self-reflection is needed.”
BJP is also trailing in Telangana and Mizoram, where the K Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Mizo National Front are leading respectively.
Union Minister Rajnath Singh also slammed the grand alliance on Tuesday, 11 December, saying that it has failed in Telangana. These state elections have been dubbed the semi-final before the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
The Congress-led alliance in Telangana suffered a major blow as officials counting the votes predicted that the ruling TRS was poised to get a second five-year term in a landslide victory. TRS nominees had taken solid leads in 95 of the 119 constituencies, crushing the opposition.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media that he was confident of a Congress victory in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and that he had "always been a little more pessimistic" about Telangana.
(With inputs from IANS)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)