The Evening Wrap: Mamata stops BJP juggernaut
| | The Evening WrapSunday | 02 May, 2021 |  |
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Mamata Banerjee decisively stops BJP juggernaut in Bengal |
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In the biggest story of this cycle of State assembly elections, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee led her party to one of its biggest political victories in the past three decades by single-handedly stopping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) juggernaut from coming to power in Bengal and paving way to become Chief Minister for a third consecutive time in the State. The West Bengal Assembly polls saw a high-voltage campaign with the BJP putting all its might into the State. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders campaigned vigorously in the State holding several public meetings and road shows. Yet the Trinamool Congress logged one of its biggest ever victories, winning a vote share of over 48% at the time of writing this newsletter. The victory also puts the 66-year-old Ms. Banerjee at the forefront of national politics with all the leaders of Opposition parties congratulating her for the massive win. Till late evening, with counting still on, the party had leads and victories in over 217 of the 292 seats that went to polls. In the 2016 Assembly polls, the TMC had won 211 seats and the percentage of votes polled was about 44.9%. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, lost from Nandigram against BJP's Suvendu Adhikari by a narrow margin of about 1,736 votes. The TMC has demanded a recounting of votes in Nandigram though Ms. banerjee bruised off the setback. "I accept the verdict in Nandigram - it is not a big deal. Don't worry," she said. Some initial readings of the polling data indicated Muslims that comprise about 27.01% of the State's population have overwhelmingly supported the Trinamool Congress. In districts like Malda and Murshidabad , which are minority-dominated areas, the State's ruling party was leading or winning over 80% seats. The Trinamool Congress was also leading in a majority of seats of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly. The State's ruling party was leading or emerged victorious in all the 11 seats in Kolkata. The BJP's attempts at polarisation of the electorate were successfully countered by the Trinamool Congress using Bengali pride and other sentiments. The Jai Shri Ram slogan, aimed at inciting religious passions, was thwarted by the Trinamool Congress's "Joy Bangla" cry and the party was successful in labelling the BJP as a party of "Bahiragawtos ( outsiders)". Another interesting trend the West Bengal Assembly elections have thrown up is that most of the defectors from the Trinamool Congress who joined the BJP did not do well in the elections. Former State Minister Rajb Banerjee who defected from the TMC to the BJP was trailing the Trinamool Congress nominee at Domjur. Similarly, Baishali Dalmiya and Prabir Kumar who quit the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP were trailing in their respective seats. Describing the victory as a "landslide" win, Ms. Banerjee said Bengal's victory has saved the country. Speaking about the "money power and muscle power" of the BJP, Ms. Banerjee said she did not expect such a scale of victory. The Chief Minister thanked the people of the State, particularly women, and said her first task will be to tackle the raging COVID-19 pandemic. After her victory, Ms Banerjee put pressure on the Centre demanding free vaccination for all 140-crore people in the country and threatened to launch a dharna if the Centre does not agree to the demands. DMK heading for big win in Tamil Nadu, Stalin ends long wait for CM chairAfter a decade in opposition, the DMK, in alliance with the Congress, is heading for a big win in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly. At the time of writing, the alliance is leading in over 140 seats. DMK president M.K. Stalin said the new government to be formed under him would actually be run by those who were aspiring for an ideal government for Tamil Nadu. "Tamil Nadu has announced the victory of the DMK. The State will win hereafter," he said in a statement. Itv wasn't entirely rhe landslide that many opinion polls predicted however, with the incumbent AIADMK leading in 80-plus seats. Actor Kamal Haasan and his Makkal Needhi Maiam or MNM failed to make any kind of impact, with Mr Haasan himself trailing. It has been a long journey for Mr. Stalin, who has had to wait four decades since his entry into politics to occupy the seat once held by his father M Karunanidhi. Even though he rose from being youth wing leader to legislator, Chennai Mayor, Minister and Deputy Chief Minister over the years, Mr. Stalin had to constantly prove his mettle. He was often compared adversely with his redoubtable father. Afraid of a backlash against being seen as promoting him in the party and government, Karunanidhi allowed him only a step-by-step elevation, lest his rise be seen as meteoric. Mr. Stalin's tenure as mayor gave him a foundation in administration. He was made Minister of Rural Development and Municipal Administration after the party was elected to power in 2006. He strengthened women self-help groups in the State and his growing influence in the administration and party led to his promotion as the State's first Deputy Chief Minister in 2009. Meanwhile, he also became the DMK's treasurer. Subsequent years witnessed his growing control over the party. He cut to size the powerful district secretaries of the party by bifurcating and trifurcating the district units they controlled as their fiefdoms. As the 2G scam gradually strained the relationship between the DMK and the Congress, Mr. Stalin finally persuaded his father to come out of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. The Congress was forced to contest alone in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The massive victory of the DMK and its alliance partners in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, arresting the Bharatiya Janata Party's efforts to gain a toehold in Tamil Nadu gave him more national prominence. The assumption Chief Minister's chair will be the culmination of a long political journey, and the end of a long wait. Left Front on course for a historic win in KeralaThe ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala is heading for a historic relection, the first government in Kerala in nearly four and a half decades to beat the trend of anti-incumbency. At the time of writing the LDF was leading in 99 of the 140 seat assembly while the the main opposition – the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Congress – was leading in 41 of the seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) i snot on course to win any seats. BJP candidate "Metro Man" E Sreedharan lost to Congress leader Shafi Parambil in Palakkad constituency of Kerala by a margin of 3,859 votes. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dedicated the historic victory of the Left Democratic Front in the assembly polls to the people and said it proved that there was no room for communal politics in the state. Flaying both the Congress-led UDF and BJP-NDA and a section of the "right-wing" media for trying to tarnish the image of the government and its development and welfare programmes, he said the people have rejected their 'vicious propaganda' by giving the Left a decisive mandate. BJP will return for second term in AssamThe Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition will return to Assam for a second term with a clear majority in the Assembly. The majority mark for the 126 seat assembly is 64 and at the time of writing the BJP had won 15 seats and was leading in 42 others. The party's allies, the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People's Party Liberal were on course to win 11 and seven seats, respectively. The leads and wins of the alliance added up to a total of 75 seats. Among the Opposition parties, the Congress had won five seats and was ahead in 25. Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front was leading in 14, while Bodoland Peoples Front was ahead in two seats and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was leading in one seat. Defectors change the game in PuducherryThe spate of defections of several heavyweights that triggered the fall of the Narayanasamy-led Government before completing term, is now scorching the electoral prospects of the Congress alliance with many former associates notching up crucial wins for the rival front as early results of the April 6 elections came in on Sunday. At the time of writing, The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has crossed the halfway mark in the 30-seat Puducherry Assembly. Its lead in 16 seats gives the alliance the majority needed to form the government in the Union territory. Whereas, the Congress-DMK-led alliance was leading in nine seats. Ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply to all hospitals, 13 Opposition parties tell CentreTop Opposition leaders on Sunday, in a joint statement, asked the government to focus all its attention on ensuring uninterrupted oxygen supply to hospitals across the country and undertake a mass free vaccination programme against COVID-19. The statement comes just a day after, at least, 12 critical patients including a doctor died on Saturday at Batra Hospital, a leading private hospital in Delhi, because of an oxygen crisis. Signatories to the statement include former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M K Stalin and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Other signatories include National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and Tejashwi Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal In the wake of "uncontrollable" surge of the pandemic across our country, they said,"We call upon the Central government to focus all attention in ensuring the uninterrupted flow of Oxygen supplies to all hospitals and health centres across the country". "We call upon the Central government to immediately launch a free mass vaccination programme across the country. The budgetary allocation of Rs 35,000 crore for the vaccination programme must be utilised for this,"the joint statement added. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on the augmenting oxygen requirements from industrial units and add more oxygen beds to meet the surge in demand. Apart from the deaths in Batra Hospital on Saturday because of a shortage in oxygen supply, less than a fortnight ago 20 COVID-19 patients died without oxygen at Jaipur Golden Hospital and 25 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital. So severe has been the oxygen crisis in the capital that many hospitals have had to approach the High Court to ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply. The government had, however, denied that there was any shortage and put it to logistics issue in transporting oxygen to places that has seen increased demand for oxygen. Covid watch: Numbers and DevelopmentsThe number of reported coronavirus cases from India stands at 1,98,94,625 at the time of publishing this newsletter with the death toll at 2,18,594. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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