HEARTLAND TURNS SAFFRON WITH BJP'S BLOCKBUSTER WINS IN 3 STATES

The election results show people accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee of delivering on guarantees, says Union minister Pralhad Joshi.

The BJP tightened its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland with assembly victories in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while the Congress ousted the BRS from Telangana on Sunday, the three-one poll score setting the stage and the mood for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

As votes were counted for elections to the four assemblies, the leads and wins threw up a BJP-dominated electoral picture with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s imprint writ large. While the saffron party retained Madhya Pradesh with a projected decisive win, it wrested Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress.

The Congress lost those two states but won Telangana from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the upset in the southern state giving the grand old party at least something to celebrate and the K. Chandrashekhar Rao-led BRS outfit, hoping for a hattrick, food for thought and introspection.

Interestingly, it is not clear who will be the BJP’s chief minister in any of the three heartland states.

Clouds of gulal, shouts of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, joyful jigs and crackers were the sights and sounds of celebration in BJP offices with party workers and leaders unanimous in attributing the win to Modi’s guarantees.

The BJP’s Chhattisgarh manifesto, for instance, titled Modi’s Guarantees, promised annual financial assistance to married women and landless agricultural labourers, paddy procurement at Rs 3,100 per quintal and cooking gas cylinder at Rs 500 to poor families.

“The election results show people accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee of delivering on guarantees,” Union minister Pralhad Joshi said.

Joshi, who was BJP’s election-in-charge for Rajasthan, also took a dig at the Congress and the promises it made in the run-up to the elections.