Assembly elections: Amit Shah's strategy, Modi charisma win the day for BJP

New Delhi: The Haryana assembly election results only reconfirmed the oft-repeated statements that BJP chief Amit Shah is the party’s master strategist and the “NaMo wave” is “still surging high”.

Mr Shah’s election strategies not only demolished the caste barriers in the state like they did in Uttar Pradesh, but the BJP’s decision to go solo also paid off handsomely.

The BJP, which otherwise was considered an insignificant player in Haryana politics, got a clear majority on its own. The BJP dislodged Congress and decimated jailed Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). Mr Shah said his party’s victory in Haryana and Maharashtra is two steps forward towards its poll slogan of “Congress Mukt Bharat”.

Read: BJP leads a saffron wave, emerges as single largest party in Maharashtra

The BJP parliamentary board has deputed senior leader and Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu along with vice-president Dinesh Sharma as observers for Haryana where its legislature party leader will be chosen after consulting the newly-elected party MLAs.

The names of Captain Abhimanyu, Jat leader and Manohar Khattar, non-Jat leader, among others, are doing the rounds as the lead contenders for the chief ministerial post. A section within the state unit is also in favour of Union minister Sushma Swaraj to head the state.

The Congress, which had been ruling this Jat-dominated state for the past one decade, was reduced to third position as the BJP surged to the top position by registering a vote share of 33.2 per cent. During the last assembly elections, the BJP had managed just nine per cent votes with four assembly seats.

Read: Victory boosts BJP prospects in Delhi

The BJP not only gave a massive jolt to the major regional players, but even smaller regional players faced a massive rout. Under Mr Shah’s leadership, its ally SAD, which campaigned for Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD in Jat-dominated constituencies, also got a message. The INLD lost many assembly seats in regions like Ambala and Panchkula, where the SAD campaigned for Mr Chautala’s party candidates. The regions also witnessed a saffron surge.

Read: Will wait for BJP to make first move: Uddhav Thackeray

For the BJP’s poll managers, the party’s performance was a result of aggressive campaigning, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Shah and Mr Rajnath Singh. The BJP had wooed voters on its main poll planks of good governance and development.

Saffron party leaders said Mr Shah’s strategies as well as Mr Modi’s charisma and the way he touched upon various issues, including dynastic politics, goondaraj, atrocities against dalits, female foeticide among others, turned the tide in the party’s favour.

Read: Maharashtra: MNS loses all existing seats

Mr Shah said the maximum seats his party contested in Haryana before was 26 and never ever got more than 16 seats.