DNA Edit: Modi delivers, again

Once again, the leadership of PM Narendra Modi has come through for the BJP. It is his pervasive appeal and charisma, his vision of a prosperous and progressive India that fired the imagination of the voters in an incumbency-wary Gujarat and a stagnating Himachal Pradesh. While BJP has emerged as the clear winner, the contest wasn’t a pushover as many within the party, including its senior leadership, had imagined. Credit is due to the Congress and its newly elected (or should we say, anointed?) president Rahul Gandhi who opened his innings with a formidable performance in Gujarat.

On the other hand, BJP’s embarrassment in Himachal has come in with its chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal losing to Rajinder Rana in Sujanpur. Another major upset was the defeat of BJP Himachal chief Satpal Singh Satti. Obviously, the BJP needs to introspect on its failings in both states and start preparing the ground for 2019. Meanwhile, the Congress will do well in soul-searching as to how they squandered away an opportunity to cash in on an anti-incumbency mood that has been 22 years in the making.

Before 2019, Rahul will once again counter PM Modi in several states: In early 2018, the three northeastern states will be witnessing polls. Thereafter, it is Rajasthan, Karnataka, MP and Chhattisgarh. Then the grand elections of 2019. Is the new Congress president ready? We know for sure, PM Modi is.