In a front-paged write up, titled “Bipolarity gets a boost: spectacular BJP win in MP, Chattisgarh; Congress in Delhi, Mizoram, Rajasthan”, R Balashankar observes: “In the year-end both the ruling coalition and the opposition are equally poised. Congress retains one, snatches two. BJP retains two. On the face of it, it is advantage Congress after the much-hyped 2008 polls to five state assemblies. In 2004, a similar dress rehearsal for the general election proved deceptive for the BJP. Will the same hold true for the Congress in 2009? Likely. Before the poll, the Congress claimed to win all the five states on the plank of local factors. National issues don’t count, this is no election for the Lok Sabha, the party said. After the poll, the Congress is arguing that the outcome is an endorsement of its national policies. The BJP on the other hand says local issues dominated the 2008 poll debate. Has the law of diminishing returns come to operate in terror and inflation discourse? Unless the Centre was seen as the culprit for both, would the BJP have won Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh?”

He adds: “The UPA has more to worry about the current round of reverses in the assembly polls, though the media is projecting it as a setback for the BJP. The BJP has demonstrated that it can beat anti-incumbency and get elected on the strength of its record of governance. This was proved earlier in Gujarat. The odds are not even.”

Hail Sheila ‘aunty’

... contd.