Exultant after its extraordinary performance in the Maharashtra local body elections, the BJP on Thursday declared it a sign of things to come in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab where the results of Assembly elections will be out on March 11.
The party claimed the verdict was not just a stamp of approval for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “pro-poor policies, including demonetisation”, but also established the BJP’s position as a pan-India ruling party. It claimed that the Congress was on its way to losing its status even as the principal Opposition.
The BJP cited recent local body elections in Odisha and the erosion of the Congress’ support base elsewhere to assert that its negative stance on demonetisation had caused the poor to move away.
In an article released after the Maharashtra civic poll verdict, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that after having “squeezed” the Congress out of the position of being the ruling party, the electorate is now well on its way to deny it the role of the principal Opposition. The Finance Minister attributed the Congress’ loss of support to it being an “anti-reformist, anti-growth fringe party”.
“Once out of power, the Congress refused to accept the reality. Its disruptive role in Parliament has projected it more as a fringe rather than a mainstream political party. It has failed to behave like a natural party of governance. It is seen as anti-reformist, anti-growth. The scandals of 2004-2014 continue to tumble out,” he said.
Jaitley said the Congress’ stand on demonetisation had cost it dearly. “Tax evasion enables a small percentage of the population to unjustly enrich itself at the cost of the exchequer. Public resources get reduced and hence the expenditure on the vast section of the population is reduced. The poor have overwhelmingly supported demonetisation. The Congress has lost its traditional constituency to the BJP,” said Jaitley.
Sena under attack At a separate press conference, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javdekar snubbed the Shiv Sena, which ran a vicious campaign against its own ally. Javdekar said the Maharashtra results had “proven who stands where”. “Those who used to say that we do not have the capacity to win even 40 seats in Mumbai should now see who is where,” said Javdekar, a reference to Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s assertion that the BJP “does not have the aukat (capacity)” to win even 40 seats.