Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes out a massive victory march in Delhi to celebrate the resounding mandate in UP and Uttarakhand; talks about a new India based on the strength of the poor and aspirations of the middle class; BJP stakes claim to form government in Goa and Manipur which returned a hung verdict
NEW DELHI: There was no pause to celebrate the ‘near-historic’ victory in the Assembly polls. Instead, the BJP showed astuteness to cobble up numbers to form governments in Goa and Manipur and no stone, to this effect, was left unturned. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was ‘offered’ back Goa, to serve as its Chief Minister, while regional parties provided the plank to stake claim to form the government in Manipur.
Taking out a massive victory march, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, talked of a “new India” on the anvil after the massive mandate. He spoke of consensus, even while commanding a majority. The party’s Parliamentary Board meeting, which concluded later in the day, feted the Prime Minister and party chief Amit Shah for the “historical” victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Modi called upon the political pundits of the country to introspect the apparent failure in predicting the sheer size of the mandate. Again, noting the dawn of a new India, the said the government would seek to blend talent and hard work of the poor with aspirations of the middle class. “We may be prone to mistakes, but our intentions are never wrong. And, it’s a big honour when others ask me how I manage to get so much work done,” he said in a patting-his-own-back moment.
While the BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma spearheaded the campaign to wrest the power in Imphal even as the party chief coordinated their actions over phone, similar moves unfolded in Panaji too. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari took the go-ahead from the Prime Minister, Shah and the Parliament Board to shuffle Parrikar back to Panaji to lead a coalition of smaller parties to form the government in Goa. Parrikar, sources said, would resign after getting the invitation from the Governor.
In Manipur, allegations were flying high on Sunday even as the BJP managed to stitch an alliance with regional and smaller parties to wrest control over the State. At least two MLAs — one from the Congress and other from the TMC — allegedly defected to the BJP side, while another Independent candidate went missing. The Congress, on expected lines, blamed the BJP for the mess.
Contrary to the active measures taken for Goa and Manipur, both states that returned hung Assemblies, the Centre-ruling party seemed relatively relaxed in making decisions on states that are securely in their pockets.
The Parliamentary Board designated party’s national secretaries Kailash Vijayvargiya and Anil Jain as observers to the Legislature Party meeting of Uttar Pradesh scheduled to be held on March 16. The Chief Minister for the largest State of the country would be elected at this meeting. The fate of Uttarakhand again, would also be sealed by the Legislature Party in the coming days.