Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh
Riding on a massive two-term anti-incumbency against the
ruling SAD-BJP regime, a resurgent Congress under Capt Amarinder Singh won a
landslide in Punjab, decimating the Aam Aadmi Party in the process and its
dream of emerging as a centrist national alternative to the Congress.
In what is a silver lining for the Congress in an otherwise
gloomy scenario, the party won a massive 77 of the 117 seats, a remarkable feat
for a winner in the last several decades.
While the loss of SAD-BJP was a foregone conclusion given
its unpopularity due to a record 10 continuous years in power, the loss of AAP
has dashed it national ambitions. The Arvind Kejriwal led party was hoping to
win Punjab and spread nationally ahead of the 2019 elections-a dream, now badly
shattered.
"This is a mandate for stability and progress as well
as good governance," Capt Amarinder said in his first media interaction
after victory, listing education and health as two areas of immediate concern
for his Government. He will be formally elected as CLP leader and Chief
Minister in a meeting of the newly elected MLAs in Chandigarh on Sunday. Many
observers in Punjab see this as a victory of the Captain and his aggressive
style of campaigning, bolstered by advice from Prashant Kishor rather than to the
grand old party itself.
“It is like the emergence of a new regional party under Capt
Amarinder,” said an old timer.
For the 89-year-old poll veteran and Punjab Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal, the dream of becoming the Chief Minister for sixth time was
dashed. He, however, was humble in defeat, accepting the people's verdict and
offering full cooperation to Amarinder Singh to work for the rights of Punjab.
"We will discuss the reasons will threadbare at the core committee meeting
of the party. I will also ask SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal to set up a
committee to look into the reason behind party's failure in the polls,” the
patron of the party said.
Both Congress and AAP had marked the ruling combine well and
from the beginning blamed it for the entire woes of the state, be it drug
menace, unemployment, shift of industries, demonetisation, personality cult
around the Badal family, nepotism, promoting dynastic rule and what not.
To make the matters worse for the Akali Dal, most of the
charges stuck as the party was unable to ward off the attack on it. AAP's
Gurpreet Ghuggi too accepted defeat and offered the cadres that it will
introspect on the reasons. But what stumped the pollsters was the margin of
defeat. A party which was supposed to be a contender for power, came a distant
second.
"People wanted experience and did not want to
experiment," said a Congress leader.
He said AAP was flirting with danger in the border State with Sikh
radicals and other extremists, championing its cause. "The minority community (read Hindus)
deserted the AAP in a big way and contributed to its defeat, the Congress
leader added.
AAP insiders said it was a combination of factors. They
pointed out that the Dera Sacha Sauda supported Akali Dal at the last moment
and it helped them in the Malwa belt, affected AAP's chances. "These were
the votes going to AAP, but went to SAD," an AAP leader said.
In addition, a bomb blast in Bhatinda just before the
polling, was seen by many as the return of the dark days of terrorism. They
wanted stability and with SAD ruled out, Congress was the only viable
alternative. (March 12, 2017)
