United Opposition triumphs, blow to BJP

New Delhi: Tremors were felt in the saffron camp as an united Opposition decimiated the BJP in the high-profile Kairana Lok Sabha constituency and Noopor Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh. Of the four Lok Sabha bypolls, the BJP won only one — Palghar in Maharashtra. Similarly, of the 11 Assembly seats that went to the polls, the BJP could score only a lone victory in the Tharali Assembly seat in Uttarakhand.

While the Congress finished third in the Palghar bypoll, the party managed to win four Assembly seats, including Shahkot (Punjab), Palus Kadegaon (Maharashtra), Ampati (Meghalaya) and R.R. Nagar (Karnataka). At Palus Kadegaon, the Congress candidate won unopposed as the BJP withdrew its candidate. It may be recalled that since 2014, the BJP has managed to win only four of the 23 Lok Sabha bypolls that have been held.

The Janata Dal (United), which had crossed over to the NDA, on Thursday cautioned the BJP against the united power of the Opposition parties. JD(U) spokesperson K.C. Tyagi told the media that the NDA allies were “feeling isolated”.

In Kairana, Uttar Pradesh, Tabassum Hasan, the RLD candidate supported by the entire Opposition, including the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress, won the high-stakes Lok Sabha battle, and became the first Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh since the 2014 general election. She trounced the BJP’s Mriganka Singh by a margin of 44,618 votes.  It may be recalled that the campaign in Kariana was communally charged. Four days before the bypoll in Kairana, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had raised the issue of the Muzaffarnagar riots and urged people not to give “anti-social” elements the opportunity to trigger riots in western Uttar Pradesh. The other major blow was the BJP’s defeat in the Noorpur Assembly seat in the state. SP candidate Naim Ul-Hasan, supported by an united Opposition, trounced the BJP’s Avni Singh by a margin of over 6,000 votes. While the saving grace for the BJP was its lone victory in the Palghar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra, its ally NDPP managed a home run in Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha seat. In Maharashtra, as the BJP romped home defeating the Shiv Sena candidate in the Palghar Lok Sabha seat, Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackrey launched a scathing attack on its ally. Indicating that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance at this juncture hangs by a thread, Mr Thackeray slammed its ally by saying that the “BJP doesn’t need its friends and allies any more”. He further pointed out that the “BJP has lost its majority in the Lok Sabha”.

Incidentally, the Shiv Sena had thrown its weight behind the Congress candidate at Palus Kadegaon Assembly seat in Maharashtra.

Another body blow was delivered to the ruling BJP in Jharkhand, where the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha backed by non-BJP outfits retained both the Assembly berths — Gomia and Silli. In Silli, Seema Mahto wife of outgoing JMM MLA Amit Mahto, defeated her nearest rival, party president of AJSU (a BJP ally in the state) Sudesh Mahto by a margin of 13,508 votes. In Gomia, JMM candidate Babita Devi also retained the berth by defeating AJSU candidate Lambodar Mahto by a narrow margin on 1,355 votes.

While the BJP’s ally NDPP managd to score a victory in Nagaland, the JD(U) yet again lost to Lalu Yadav’s RJD in Bihar. The RJD candidate won the Jokihat Assembly berth by defeating the JD(U) by a huge margin of over 41,000 votes. After JD(U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar shifted to the NDA, both his outfit and the BJP suffered electoral losses in bypolls held in March. During the March byelections in Bihar, the BJP had lost the Araria Lok Sabha seat and the JD(U) the Jehanabad Assemby berth to RJD candidates.

In West Bengal the Trinamul Congress continued its victory march by winning the Maheshtala Assembly seat. In Kerala, however, the CPI(M) invaded the Congress’ bastion and won the Chengannur Assembly berth.

Commenting on the results, senior BJP leader and Union home minister Rajnath Singh has said that “one has to take two steps backward before a big leap”. Asked about the BJP’s performance in these byelections, Mr Singh said in Bhopal: “For a massive leap, one always has to go two steps backward... (And) we are going to take a massive leap.”

Speaking in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said that these byelection results had signalled that the “death knell for the BJP has been sounded” and that the federal front formula she had mooted was a success.

“The beginning of the end has started from Uttar Pradesh,” she told reporters, saying that UP will play a crucial role in the Lok Sabha polls due next year. “If Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawatiji, Ajit Singhji come together, they can reverse the 2014 figures.”