NEW DELHI: While the regional satraps from Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal did well, smaller parties in the Hindi heartland have taken a beating. Away from the state capitals, the activity level in their Delhi offices, if they had one, gave indication to their waxing or waning fortunes.
At the South Avenue office of Trinamool Congress, a small air-conditioned cabin in the back lawn was filled with smiles. About 10 party workers were sitting inside and watching a Bengali news channel. After pocketing 34 seats, relaxed TMC workers joked, “The left is totally gone in Bengal.” He then ran to get a laddu for a visitor, as an auto with a big pot of biryani arrived to feed the hungry hangers-on.
Trinamool had won a vote share of 39.3 percent in West Bengal. The Left which had ruled West Bengal for 30 years was left with just two seats. Worries about tense centre-state relations due to BJP’s landslide win were kept for another day. “Funds belong to the state. Nobody can stop that. But, it is certainly a worry about how the Modi government will treat our government, especially after all the bad blood,” said another TMC party worker, Soumik Guha.
At Bahujan Samajwadi Party supreme Mayawati’s house on Rakabjganj road, her statue peeked out from behind the iron gates. There were no party workers in the house, and neither in her other property at Tyagraj Marg. In typical Mayawati style, both the Lutyen’s bungalow had been converted into marble palaces. The silence was not surprising, as it has been a shocking defeat without a single seat.
A lone worker speculated that perhaps the leaders were in another office-cum residence at Tyagraj Marg. But, even the second residence located in New Delhi’s Lutyens zone had only the security personnel on duty and gossiping about the elections. “There is nobody here,” said a security officer. “No, we are not expecting anybody here soon”.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party office in Copernicus lane was also deathly quiet. On a concrete platform around a big banyan tree, a worker had dozed off in the afternoon heat. “Nobody is here,” said a party worker under a portrait of SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. SP with 22.2 percent of votes won 5 seats—all of them to family members.
At the MP hostel at Vithalbhai Patel house, Rashtriya Janta Dal office had about 10 workers watching television—but majority of them turned to be BJP workers who had just come to visit a friend. “This victory showed that all casteist and communalist strategies for winning elections are over,” opined the BJP party worker, as his friend from RJD looked on with sheepish smiles.
Outside, the sound of firecrackers resounded the air, as BJP workers celebrated near their head office at Ashoka Road, a crow flight’s away. Laloo Yadav-led by RJD got four seats, two more than Nitish Kumar’s Janta Dal (United). BJP won 22 seats in Bihar.
JD(U) office at Jantar Mantar wore a deserted look and none of the party workers were available. “No one has bothered to visit since morning,” said a sullen looking JD (U) worker.
There are no separate offices for the Tamil Nadu regional political parties in Delhi, with their room in parliament house acting as their base during session. The other big regional winner, Biju Janta Dal also does not maintain a office in Delhi—and perhaps they don’t need to.