Kesariya Holi for BJP in UP?
March 11, 2017  07:57
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None of the exit polls have given a clear majority for any party in Uttar Pradesh. The suspense will be over in a few hours when the electorate of 140 million, in a population of over 200 million will give their mandate to elect 403 legislators after over two months of gruelling high-voltage campaigning through the state, where political parties contested in the seven-phased, three-cornered battle.


The major contenders - the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - left no stone unturned to woo voters.


The entire nation is eagerly waiting for the final poll results, which not only will script a new chapter for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati, but for the Indian politics as well. It will be a kind of mandate by the people on demonetisation and other programmes and policies introduced by the BJP Government at the Centre, if it manages to come to power in the state after a long gap of 15 years.


If the BJP gets the majority, it will surely say that the demonetisation, instead of being PM Modi's monumental hubris that Opposition parties were hoping for and campaigned vigorously against, has actually turned out to be advantageous for the party.


If the exit polls data proves true tomorrow, which does often indicate the mood in a state, one can safely say that people did not like the much-hyped slogan "UP ko Ye Saath Pasand hai" of the SP-Congress alliance and liked the slogan of "Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas" of the BJP to write a new chapter in the political history of UP and the political observers might also see a clear polarisation of Hindu votes in the state in support of the BJP, which didn't give even a single ticket to any Muslim candidate in the entire state.


According to the Exit Polls, the BJP looks fighting fit in 2017, but, the fact remains that in 2014, when it swept the state on an appeal from Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Samajwadi Party and BSP polled 19.77 percent and 22.35 percent of the votes respectively.


The BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad who was in Patna yesterday, quipped, "Ek Holi kal bhi khelenge, jo kesariya Holi hogi. We will play another Holi tomorrow which will be a saffron Holi."  Exit polls show a BJP majority in all four states, except Punjab.


Image: Ladoos being prepared in Varanasi ahead of the Election Results.
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