BJP sweeps Hindi heartland

New Delhi: The BJP tightened its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland by winning Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while the Congress could oust the BRS from Telangana in the south on Sunday.

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.

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”.nat

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.

The Congress has suffered a massive blow in the Hindi heartland as the party has lost all the three states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh - it won in 2018. In the last Assembly election, the Congress had formed governments in all three states, but it lost Madhya Pradesh after some leaders defected to the BJP.

Till a few months ago, almost every poll predicted a comfortable victory for the Congress in Chhattisgarh and a better chance of coming back to power in Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of former chief minister Kamal Nath. What shook the Congress more is the result of Chhattisgarh, where the saffron party won with 50-plus of 90 seats.

Rahul Gandhi had picked Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh and Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath had delivered Madhya Pradesh for the Congress in 2018 but his rift with then-party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia and poor crisis management from the top leadership resulted in the collapse of the state government.

Scindia, who was once a lieutenant of Rahul Gandhi, is instrumental in winning Madhya Pradesh for the BJP for the fifth term. Congress lost Scindia in March 2020 and lost Madhya Pradesh again in 2023.