BJP's poll performance predicts its farewell in 2019: NCP

Mumbai: The NCP on Tuesday attributed the BJP's performance in five state Assembly polls, particularly in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, to its "arrogance" and said it portended "farewell" of the NDA pivot in 2019 general elections. Speaking to reporters here, NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik ascribed the defeat also to the "anti-people and anti-farmer" policies of the Narendra Modi government. 

"It is in face a 5-0 defeat of the BJP. The people have voted against the arrogance of leaders of the BJP", Malik said. He was referring to trends showing the Congress leading in BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The BJP in Madhya Pradesh is locked in a neck-and-neck fight with the Congress. Malik said the crisis of unemployment and the government's moves like GST and demonetisation had a bearing on the polls outcome. 

"The way the BJP has tasted defeat in its own states, it portends the farewell of the BJP in the 2019 polls," he said. The former Maharashtra minister also alleged that the RSS had sensed the BJP's defeat in these polls and therefore, had raised the Ram temple dispute. "Hence, the people ensured 'Ram naam satya' of the BJP in the elections," he added. In Telangana and the Mizoram, the other two states where Assembly polls results were announced, the TRS and the MNF respectively forged ahead.