Victory proves nay-sayers wrong
With Punjab and Uttaranchal coming into its kitty, the party has acquired the much-needed buoyancy for politically crucial Uttar Pradesh elections.
NEW DELHI: The BJP never had it any better in the past three years.
The party’s thumping victory on Tuesday in the two northern states, that too at a time when political big wigs, analysts and pre-poll surveys had written it off as “a party that is over”, came as a major blow to the Congress.
With Punjab and Uttaranchal coming into its kitty, the main Opposition party has acquired the much-needed buoyancy for politically crucial Uttar Pradesh elections and also the confidence to nail the Congress-led UPA government on two raging issues, Quottrochi and price rise.
The BJP is now clearly hoping for a say in the national politics.
The top leaders lost no time in convening the party’s highest decision-making body, Parliamentary Board, in the evening and crediting party workers and leaders for the much-needed victory.
Major General (Retd) BC Khanduri is mooted as the chief minister for Uttaranchal.
Khanduri is preferred over Bhagat Singh Koshiari despite the fact that the former chief minister enjoys good support of elected MLAs as also the organisation because of his good administrative track record as a minister in the Vajpayee government.
The party will demand its pound of flesh from the Akali Dal as its victory is powered by the BJP. The party is hoping to get the post of deputy chief minister and some other ministerial berths in the Punjab government.
The party, however, is sending a three-member team of central observers to Dehradun and Uttaranchal to ascertain views of the newly elected legislators and also make them agree to the central leadership’s choice.
The victory indicates a renewed hope of the people on the party and according to Lal Krishna Advani, the leader of the Opposition, the poll results are an indicator of a larger trend.