Mumbai: The rout in Rajasthan’s assembly by-elections has left the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership worried. The state will go for two Lok Sabha by-elections — Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia. The Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency fell vacant after Nana Patole’s exist from the BJP, while Palghar’s BJP MP Chintaman Vanaga passed away on Tuesday.
Political pandits said that results of Ajmer and Alwar are being perceived as indicator and expression of anger by rural India towards the BJP.
The saffron leaders are feeling the heat of the situation because both, the Bhandara and Palghar constituencies are rural-dominated. Loss in any of them could hurt the BJP ahead of the general and assembly elections.
Congress won the Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha constituencies as well as Mandalghargh assembly constituency with a thumping margin.
The BJP had won Alwar with over 2.8 lakh votes and Ajmer with 1.7 lakh votes. It was a huge win, but this time the Congress won both the seats, despite rebels garnering almost 40,000 votes in Mandalgarh.
The Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar constituencies were not a huge win for the BJP in 2014. It seems that in Rajsthan and Gujarat, the rural voters are upset with the BJP government. A group of BJP leaders from Maharashtra feel that Rajsthan results could be repeated in the state.
“The Palghar constituency is comparatively not tough as Congress too does not have a strong candidate there, but in Bhandara, we need to work hard,” said a senior minister of the party on Thursday. In Palghar, local party, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) is having three MLAs out of six in the constituency. Currently, Hitendra Thakur’s BVA is with the BJP, the party does not see any threat there. But in Bhandara-Gondia, the BJP will have to fight a lonely battle. “Only break up between Congress and NCP will help us there,” said the same minister.
The by-elections will also give indications of the public mood. The general elections are just 14 months away and the assembly elections will also be in 2019.
