Jolt to Samajwadi Party in Muzaffarnagar
.jpg "Prime Minister, Narendra Modi interacts with the students & teachers, at the event “Nayi Disha, Naya Sankalp”, in New Delhi.-PTI")
Jolt to Samajwadi Party in Muzaffarnagar
Upbeat over the BJP’s performance in byelections at a time when both the ruling party and the NDA government at the Centre is facing Opposition attacks over a variety of issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday the victory of the BJP and its allies showed that people have reposed faith in the “politics of development”. Byelections were held for 12 seats across eight states, where the BJP and its allies won seven, including communally-sensitive Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party got a major jolt. The BJP also won the Ghaziabad mayoral polls in UP, where Assembly polls are due early next year.
“Happy to see the victory of BJP and allies in bypolls in northern, southern, eastern, western and central parts of the country. I express gratitude to the people... Appreciable effort by NDA. People across India reposed faith in politics of development, development and development. ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’,” Mr Modi said in a series of tweets.
BJP president Amit Shah also thanked the electorate for “reposing faith in the politics of development over votebank politics”. He said it was a mandate against the “negative politics” of the Congress and its allies.
UP handed out a drubbing for the SP government led by Akhilesh Yadav as it lost in Muzaffarnagar and Deoband, which was won by the Congress, but managed to retain the Bikapur seat.
In Karnataka, the ruling Congress government suffered a setback as it lost two of the three seats in the Assembly byelections. In Nitish Kumar-ruled Bihar, BJP ally RLSP won in the Harlakhi constituency, defeating the Congress candidate. The RJD-JD(U)-Congress coalition is now in power in the state.
In four other states — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana — ruling parties BJP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and TRS emerged victorious in one seat each. In Tripura, the ruling CPI(M) won the lone seat.
Buoyed by its performance in the byelections, the BJP claimed people had shown their preference for its politics of development over the “votebank politics” of the Congress and Samajwadi governments (in Karnataka and UP respectively).
BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma targeted the SP government in UP, alleging it had “failed” on all fronts and the people had voted against it. “By misusing the official machinery and deploying its goons, the SP had managed to win in local polls so far. People have given it a stern message now... A countdown to its government has begun. It has failed on all fronts. Corruption and crime are at a high while public facilities like education and health are in a disarray,” Mr Sharma charged.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP’s victory in the Maihar seat came as a morale-booster after it conceded the Jhabua Lok Sabha seat to the Congress in a byelection soon after the saffron party’s drubbing in Bihar. In neighbouring Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena retained the Palghar seat.
In Punjab, which also goes to the polls next year, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal won the bypoll for Khadoor Sahib Assembly seat. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had stayed out of the contest.
In Telangana, continuing its winning spree since it rode to power in 2014’s Assembly polls, the ruling TRS wrested the Narayanakhed seat in Medak district from Congress by a massive margin. In Tripura, the CPI(M) won the Birganj Assembly byelection in Gomati district.
