BJP ends Cong's 15-year tea party

BJP on Thursday took a big leap forward in its bid to expand its base in the northeast by handing out a humiliating defeat to arch-rival Congress with the help of its two regional allies, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People's Front (BPF).
The victory, which comes after two major debacles in Delhi and Bihar, will allow the saffron party to govern a state that has the country's second-highest Muslim population after Jammu & Kashmir.At least 35 of Assam's 126 assembly seats have more than 50% Muslim voters.
BJP, which got a mere five of 120 contested seats in 2011, won 60 seats at a high strike rate this time. It had fielded candidates in 89 constituencies. On the contrary, Congress got 20 seats, far below its tally of 78 in the last election. The success in Assam, which comes as a morale booster at a time when BJP is preparing for a tough contest in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, is set to help the saffron party make inroads into more areas of the northeast.


At the moment, BJP has tie-ups with the Naga People's Front, which rules Christian-dominated Nagaland, and People's Party of Arunachal, currently in po- wer in the frontier state. The win has also brought cheer to BJP supporters in Manipur, which goes to the polls early next year. Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram are the three states that have a Congress government at the moment. AGP also made its mark by winning 14 of the 24 seats it contested. BPF retained all the 12 seats it had won as a partner of Congress in 2011. The Bodo organisation had contested 13 seats.
Like Congress, All India United Democratic Front, too, suffered a serious setback. Its tally went down to 13 from 18. Not only this, its chief, billionaire perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal, lost in Salmara South in the Muslim-dominated Dhubri district that borders Bangladesh.
The defeat of Congress also saw the end of Gogoi's 15-year rule. The outgoing CM had surpassed all his predecessors, including the legendary Gopinath Bordoloi and B P Chaliha, to become Assam's longest-serving CM.
The results revealed a shift in loyalties in Muslim, Ahom and tea belts. While Congress snatched six seats from AIUDF in minority-dominated lower and central Assam, tea workers, traditional Congress supporters, overwhelmingly voted for BJP. In the Ahom homeland of upper Assam, too, Congress performed miserably. Gogoi is an Ahom.