BJP sold dreams to win UP: Congress

The Sensex ended marginally higher on Friday after rising almost 150 points in early trade after exit polls predicted that BJP is likely to emerge as the largest party in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP “sold dreams” to win Uttar Pradesh and voters would soon realise when the party fails to deliver on its election promises, Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance will thus be be able to form a majority government in the state. Though all exits polls had projected the BJP as a major victor in UP, the saffron brigade too had not thought that the margin of its victory here would be so big.

Its win in Uttar Pradesh will have significant implications for the make-up of the Rajya Sabha – the upper house of parliament. Based on the report submitted by the observers party will make decision about the Chief Ministerial candidates for UP, Uttarakhand and Manipur.

Nearly four in ten voters backed Modi’s party, the election commission said, close to the party’s vote share in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 general election when it won the biggest national majority in three decades. The main opposition Congress party – despite its apparent win in Punjab – remains in a limbo, run by the dynastic Gandhi family, which holds the party together but is unable to win votes. Modi said BJP saw the mandate it had received as a “sacred direction” from the people to serve. In particular his abrupt move in November to scrap higher-denomination currency notes, which caused widespread hardship for little evident gain, raised doubts about Mr Modi’s competence.

The prime minister will chair a meeting of the BJP’s parliamentary board following the roadshow. Congress’s current scion, Rahul Gandhi, had hoped to turn a strong showing for its UP alliance into a springboard for the 2019 general election. Referring to generations of Jan Sangh and BJP leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Kushabhau Thakre and Jana Krishnamrrthi who “gave their youth and life” for raising “this banyan tree”, Mr Modi said power was “not an instrument to rule, but a tool of service for the people”.

“After independence, Narendra Modi is the leader who has not just talked about the poor, but worked for them”.

There is nothing to cheer for BSP too, which has been given a handful number of the 403 seats.

More importantly, in case the SPCongress combo suffers a defeat, knives will be out for Akhilesh Yadav, who led a bloodless coup in his party. “The five states are the foundation of a new India”.

Jubilant crowds of saffron-clad supporters celebrated the victory outside the party’s headquarters in New Delhi and in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. Six of them are from the Samajwadi Party, three from the Bahujan Samaj Party and one from the Congress.

Modi said he was “overjoyed” with what he described as unprecedented support from all sections of the society.

After the announcement of the results, it is time for introspection for the fractious Opposition parties because divisions in their ranks are the happy hunting ground for the BJP.

For the past decade two local parties, each with roots in different caste groups, have dominated the state’s confoundingly complex politics. The BJP ended up with 312 seats on its own.

Yadav further expressed confidence over winning the assembly polls. There can be -and there are – 105 other “I told you so” reasons why the BJP’s done a Godzilla in UP. Muslims are known for tactical voting, but this time it appears the community has voted for issues. “But the party should not believe that it will help them win in all elections”, Chidambaram said. Modi said the BJP government would take everyone along as “in democracy, governments are formed with a majority but run with consensus”.

The SP-Cong combine, meanwhile, will bag 133 seats and BSP 67.