Among 4states set for polls, Delhi toughest test for saffron party. Narendra Modi has been riding a wave since he was named chairman of the BJP’s election campaign committee in June 2013 and the party’s prime ministerial candidate for 2014.
It will be somewhat more difficult to prove whether he is also the BJP’s winning mascot. Among Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh that will go to polls later this year, Modi’s biggest test will be to upset the Congress government of Sheila Dikshit in Delhi. That will show whether the Modi magic really works.
Ashok Gehlot’s government in Rajasthan faces a major challenge from BJP’s Vasundhara Raje. He has been facing anti- incumbency, which he has tried to combat with a string of sops, including what the Opposition has alleged are cash inducements. The down turn is apparent. Gehlot’s party won 96 seats in 2008. However, India Today Group- CVoter Mood of the Nation Survey has predicted that he will lose 17 seats.
The BJP is holding its ground against the Congress in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, both led by the BJP’s prodevelopment chief ministers. However, in both states, the party’s winning margins have been reduced — going by the India Today Group- CVoter survey. Modi will have to help them pull away from the competition. In short, for Modi, the countdown has begun.
Ashok Gehlot- led Congress and Vasundhara Raje- led BJP seem to be facing hard times in the run- up to the upcoming elections. Both the parties have been in power in the state alternately since 1998. The neck- and- neck contest and intense campaigns have forced incumbent Chief Minister Gehlot to heavily depend on handouts. The BJP high command is banking on Raje who has been reinstated as the state party chief.
