CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: The Congress won the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll by a record margin of 1.93 lakh votes Sunday, stunning the BJP and the Modi Government ahead of the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections.
Winning Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, who bagged 4,99,752 votes against 3,06,553 by Swaran Salaria of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP, said: “The BJP must read the writing on the wall now. People have rejected the BJP and also shown the mirror to the Akalis. With this victory, people have reaffirmed faith in the leadership of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.’’
Political observers said demonetisation and the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) seemed to have hit the BJP’s fortunes in the trading towns of Batala and Pathankot.
The bypoll, necessitated by the death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna, is being seen as a barometer of the popularity of the six-month-old Congress government in Punjab. State Congress leaders claimed it was a clear indication of what was to come in the 2019 general elections as people were apparently fed up with the Modi Government.
A state BJP leader said although elections to a Lok Sabha seat largely reflected the national mood, local factors too played a major role. “The BJP took for granted its support base, which has reacted to the two major economic decisions (demonetisation and GST), lack of jobs and agricultural distress by voting against the party,’’ he said.
Some saw the nomination of Mumbai-based businessman Salaria, possibly because of patronage by Baba Ramdev, as a reason for the saffron rout. The BJP had estimated that the contest would be evenly matched between Salaria and Jakhar, who has also been carrying the tag of an outsider.
“The BJP surely erred in choosing Salaria for the constituency by denying the nomination to Kavita Khanna, who had been nursing the constituency on behalf of her husband. The party workers were not enthused by a businessman bagging the ticket. Gurdaspur has sent a message for the upcoming elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat as well,” said a senior BJP functionary.
Observers said the arrest of senior SAD leader Sucha Singh Langah on rape charges may also have made a dent in the Jat Sikh votes, particularly in the Dera Baba Nanak Assembly segment where he was in charge for the last ten years.
The SAD-BJP defeat is also expected to increase the rancour between the parties. BJP leaders have been hinting that continuing to align with the SAD was no longer viable.
“Today the BJP will realize that Akali Dal in Punjab has become a burden,” local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said.
“We have sent a beautiful Diwali gift packed with red ribbon to our would-be president Rahul Gandhi because it sets the tone. It will be a shot in the arm for the Congress. This (victory) is a big slap on the face of ‘jija-saala’ (SAD president Sukhbir Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia),’’ he added.
CM Amarinder Singh said Jakhar’s victory was a strong rebuttal to persistent Akali efforts to undermine the work being done by his government.
The ripple effect of the BJP Gurdaspur rout could spread to HP where faction-fighting is reported to have deepened. “A few of the sitting BJP MLAs have got wind that the party is mulling denying them tickets to promote young leaders. If they are denied tickets, there is every possibility that they will turn rebels and contest elections,” sources in the BJP told the New Indian Express.
