I/II. [But two wins don’t constitute a tectonic shift, or even a trend. If anything, the Nanded outcome offers a series of lessons for the Congress, a list of to-do items, if it has to emerge as a credible alternative in subsequent elections elsewhere. ]
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/the-nanded-municipality-poll-portent-maharashtra-congress-ashok-chavan-bjp-4898315/ The Nanded portent Poll outcome offers lessons for both the victor and the vanquished By: Editorial | Published:October 20, 2017 12:06 am The Nanded outcome is also a cautionary note against hubris in the BJP, which completes three years in power in Maharashtra later this month and may want to use the occasion to introspect and self-assess. Nanded is the home constituency of the Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan, and the Congress party has held uninterrupted sway over the Nanded-Waghela Municipal Corporation for nearly two decades. The BJP, which has had, until recently, only a marginal presence in the former Nizam-ruled district, has witnessed its corporator strength in the Nanded municipality dwindle over the course of four previous elections. It has, in fact, notched up its best ever performance in the city, with six corporators, in the elections held last week. On the other hand, the Congress, confident of winning and even improving its 2012 tally of 41 corporators, was no doubt pleasantly surprised at the extent of its sweep — 73 of the 81-member corporation. This, and the Gurdaspur bypoll victory immediately afterwards, has led local leaders to declare that the Nanded result is symptomatic of a shift in the popular mood despite counter claims by the BJP that its growth continues unabated, including in recent polls to gram panchayats. But two wins don’t constitute a tectonic shift, or even a trend. If anything, the Nanded outcome offers a series of lessons for the Congress, a list of to-do items, if it has to emerge as a credible alternative in subsequent elections elsewhere. While this is one of the few regions where the party still has a strong cadre of foot soldiers, the poll managers also ensured a certain clarity of leadership, vision, agenda and strategy. It addressed the minorities with a low-key campaign on specific local issues relevant to them. The Congress also benefited from the disorganisation and turmoil within the other Opposition parties. A number of sitting All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) corporators moved to the Congress, most of them retained their seats. It was in Nanded in 2012 that the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party burst on to the political scene in the state, winning 11 seats. It failed to win a single seat this time, its internal struggles to establish a state-level leadership, internal processes and structures, apparent. The NCP, which has recently suffered a series of electoral setbacks, did not win a single seat either, going from seven corporators to zero. Clearly, the anti-BJP vote could be consolidated, and the Congress leadership was paying attention to the task. In addition, the party reached out to small traders, daily wagers and others affected by demonetisation, by the introduction of GST and recent job losses. The Nanded outcome is also a cautionary note against hubris in the BJP, which completes three years in power in Maharashtra later this month and may want to use the occasion to introspect and self-assess. It was enunciated by the Shiv Sena, which has taken upon itself the role of the BJP’s chief opponent. It wrote of Nanded’s portent in party mouthpiece Saamana, calling the result a sign to political parties and voters that the BJP can be defeated. II. [A political strategist who worked for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Maharashtra said the Nanded result did offer “a mahagathbandhan-like opportunity to the opposition”. “The BJP has claimed that its vote share in Nanded has gone up from 3.81% in 2012 to nearly 25% now. It is a fair observation but it ignores the rise in the Congress vote share too. The Congress has got nearly 50% of the votes and the remaining 25% votes are divided among non-BJP parties,” the strategist said requesting anonymity.] http://www.livemint.com/Politics/ZG9EX849WK8C6zgKHTE3AJ/Nanded-mandate-a-grand-alliance-cue-for-opposition-in-Maha.html Nanded mandate a ‘grand alliance’ cue for opposition in Maharashtra? After the Congress sweep in the Nanded municipal corporation polls, non-BJP parties feel the civic poll results convey the message that the saffron party is not invincible Abhiram Ghadyalpatil Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan (left) and party workers celebrate the party’s win in the Nanded municipal elections. Photo: PTI Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan (left) and party workers celebrate the party’s win in the Nanded municipal elections. Photo: PTI Mumbai: The spectacular Congress sweep in the Nanded municipal corporation polls last week has offered a glimmer of hope to all non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties in Maharashtra, including the Shiv Sena. The Congress won 73 of 81 seats in the municipal body and the BJP only six. While crushing the BJP, the Congress obliterated other parties including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party (MIM) which drew a blank. The Shiv Sena won a single seat. Yet, with the exception of the MIM, most non-BJP parties in the state have preferred to project what they consider the “big message from Nanded” for the BJP—that “it is not invincible”. While conceding that Nanded, with its sizeable Muslim population like in other parts of Marathwada, and its long-standing loyalty to the Congress party, was a relatively easier constituency to conquer for the Congress as compared to other parts of the state, political functionaries and observers feel the Nanded mandate offers some important lessons for the BJP and the opposition parties. “For once, it has come as a big feel-good factor in the sense it halts the BJP’s victory run. The big takeaway for us is if we get our act together and run a positive campaign, we can beat the BJP,” said a Congress functionary close to state Congress president and Nanded MP Ashok Chavan. “We focused on our traditional vote banks and also reached out to the BJP vote bank of small traders and businesses on the issue of demonetization and GST (goods and services tax). But we ran a low-profile campaign,” said the Congress functionary requesting anonymity. The NCP was quick to congratulate the Congress even though the former lost all the 10 seats it had won in the 2012 Nanded polls. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the BJP’s loss was significant because the voters in Nanded had rejected “the BJP’s dirty tricks of importing leaders from other parties”. “For the record, we have congratulated the Congress because it is a splendid victory. But for us, the result underlines the need for introspection as to why we are losing in civic elections,” said another NCP functionary requesting anonymity. He, however, termed the Nanded mandate as Maharashtra’s “Delhi 2015 and Bihar 2015 moment”, recalling how the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Janata Dal-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress mahagathbandhan had decimated the BJP in Delhi and Bihar, respectively. A political strategist who worked for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Maharashtra said the Nanded result did offer “a mahagathbandhan-like opportunity to the opposition”. “The BJP has claimed that its vote share in Nanded has gone up from 3.81% in 2012 to nearly 25% now. It is a fair observation but it ignores the rise in the Congress vote share too. The Congress has got nearly 50% of the votes and the remaining 25% votes are divided among non-BJP parties,” the strategist said requesting anonymity. The Shiv Sena too, which rarely lets go of an opportunity to attack the BJP, has gloated more over the Congress than pondered its own decline from 14 to one seat in Nanded. While the Sena mouthpiece Saamana wrote that the Nanded loss put paid to the BJP’s dream of ‘Congress-mukt Bharat”, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray last week concurred with Ashok Chavan’s view that the Nanded debacle was “the beginning of the decline of the BJP”. Political commentator and senior journalist Bhau Torsekar, said the Nanded result has long-term lessons for every political party. “The decline of MIM and NCP is a major takeaway which not many have noted. The entire Muslim vote bank in Nanded has moved from MIM and other parties to the Congress which indicates the possibility of communal polarization in future. Whenever and wherever Muslims have voted en-bloc for the Congress, it has almost led to reverse Hindu polarization towards the BJP. In that sense, Nanded elections could be an indicator of things to come,” he said. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
