Two long-standing family edifices have crumbled in the assembly elections in Maharashtra – one, the formerly fire-spitting communal outfit the Shiv Sena led by the Thackeray family; and the other the more corrupt Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar. They have been routed but the rebel Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and rebel NCP of Sharad’s nephew Ajit Pawar outwitted their parent parties and won a substantial number of seats this time. Shinde who started as an autorickshaw driver in Thane is likely to lose his CM post by virtue of the fact that the BJP on its own has near-sufficient number of seats for a majority in the assembly. This leaves no scope for bargaining for both Ajit Pawar and Shinde. The electorate has ensured as much, keeping in mind the kind of filth that was swept up the surface by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray after the last assembly polls. Another five years of stable rule by the BJP could sound the death knell for the outfits of both these leaders. Ageing Pawar is past his expiry date; Uddhav, father Bal Thackeray’s prop, has proven time and again that he’s not made for the rough and tough of politics. As was the case in 2019 too, the Congress had a poor show, winning 16 seats in a house of 288, signifying a lack of strong leadership for the party in the state.
In Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has proved its worth yet again by winning 34 of the 81 seats and ally Congress 16 seats, ensuring the continuation of a stable INDIA alliance government there. The overall good show by the BJP in the current round of by-polls to 48 constituencies, winning 28 seats, was tamed however by the failure of the party to seize power in Jharkhand. That the Congress party got only seven of the 48 seats speaks volumes about its failure to reinvent itself, evident also from its recent defeat in Haryana and the present degradation in Maharashtra. Notably, the election of Priyanka Gandhi for her maiden appearance in Parliament as MP from Kerala’s Wayanad should enthuse the Congress. Her victory in Wayanad vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who had retained his Rae Bareli seat, is reassurance about the Nehru family’s continued pan-India appeal. In Karnataka, the Congress won all the three seats. Mamata Banerjee reinforced her supremacy in West Bengal as the TMC won all the six seats. Yogi Adityanath saved his face with the BJP winning six of the 9 seats while the saffron party won all the five seats in Assam – a major credit to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. So did Conrad Sangma with one seat for the NPP here. Overall, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seem mostly unassailable, at least for the present.
