NEW DELHI: With the Madhya Pradesh results proving to be a cliffhanger, political observers were left wondering why BJP refrained from doing a Karnataka or Manipur on its rival. In a shift of strategy, the saffron BJP refrained from horse- trading to form government despite coming a close second. Sources claimed the party doesn’t want to take any step which may send out a wrong message when the Lok Sabha polls are so closer.
Only a few months ago, in May this year, the BJP emerged as a single largest party in Karnataka and tried every trick to form a government. But it backfired as a cautious Congress, having learnt from its experience in Manipur and Goa, foiled the bid. BJP leader and three-day-old chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had to step down ahead of the scheduled floor test in the Assembly as the party failed to cobble up the numbers by breaking the opposition ranks.
The Karnataka failure was a big embarrassment for the party which had managed to form governments in Manipur and Goa through similar tricks despite lacking the numbers.In March last year, Manipur Governor Najma Heptullah invited the BJP to form a government despite the Congress emerging as the largest party after the Assembly elections. A BJP insider said the party’s main focus is now the Lok Sabha polls. “The Congress was very close to the majority mark and also enjoys the support of BSP and SP. At this stage, any step could backfire and the party cannot afford this,” he explained.
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav summed up the sentiment in the party through a tweet saying, “Proud of Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Spirited fight. More votes; short of majority in a hung house; but no temptation for harakiri; graceful exit by submitting resignation. He won d hearts even in party’s sad electoral loss (sic.).”
In Rajasthan also, the BJP had a remote chance of trying for support of some MLAs, but it stayed away from any such misadventure.