The Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi is set to return to power for the second time with a landslide win, bigger than what brought it 2014. The Congress under Rahul Gandhi appears to be heading for another disastrous rout and could be restricted to figures barely crossing the half-century mark. The mandate with which the saffron party is coming back to power has the potential to change the political dynamics in certain states. The BJP is currently leading on over 300 seats — the first time in its history.
This historic mandate will embolden the top BJP leadership — Amit Shah and Narendra Modi — who will leave no stone unturned in getting back the states that went to the grand old party in the recent past. And there are possibilities that some legislators from the Congress may not feel comfortable after such an embarrassing national drubbing under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and may jump the ship.
This may well begin from Karnataka where the revolt within the Congress began just a day before the results. Senior Congress leader Roshan Baig blamed the state party leadership for not allowing Karnataka CM to function, a claim which the chief minister himself has made on multiple occasions. The JD(S) leadership too went into huddle to decide on the future course of action after the Congress’ decimation at the national level. Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy CM G Parameswaran too had admitted that all was not well within the coalition.
All this may provide Amit Shah some room to throw in his hat into the ring. The BJP is the single largest party with 104 seats, nine lesser than the number required to form the government in 224-member House. With the JDS tally limited to a solitary seat, the situation could turn even tense, reports suggest that HD Kumaraswamy may resign as the chief minister of Karnataka, a move that will certainly pave the way for the BJP to ascend to power.
Madhya Pradesh is another state where Congress may lose its grip after today’s defeat. There were reports that 13 legislators from the Congress are in touch with the BJP and may jump the ship in case of adverse results. Now that the saffron party is set to take over in Delhi, there may be churn in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP has 109 MLAs in 231-member Assembly. The BJP is currently leading on 28 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh.
