BJP pays for not allying with AGP

Admitting a setback in Assam, the BJP parliamentary board concluded the party's dismal performance was due to its failure to ally with Asom Gana Parishad. HT reports. See pics

Admitting a setback in Assam, the BJP parliamentary board concluded the party's dismal performance was due to its failure to ally with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).

HT Image

The party had expected a hung house scenario, which could have enabled a coalition led by the AGP, supported by the BJP and other parties like the Bodo People’s Front.

The BJP had hoped it would get at least 15 seats and that the AGP would win 40 seats. But the results dashed the saffron party’s hopes as it got only four seats as against 10 in the previous elections. The AGP got a mere 10 seats.

"The BJP regrets that lack of opposition unity resulted in the absence of a credible alternative in Assam," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said. "I have no hesitation in saying that we tried our level best and made an honest attempt to ally with the AGP."

Jaitley took digs at the Congress and the Left parties. "The global decline of the Marxist ideology appears to have belatedly arrived in India," he said, reading out the BJP board’s statement.

"Last time, Congress and its ally (DMK) had won a lot of seats in Tamil Nadu. But this time their party has not reached double digits. And in comparison to us, Congress has a bigger presence in Tamil Nadu," he said to counter senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee's remark that the BJP had won only six seats out of over 800 that went to polls in these elections.

"The same could have been said about Mukherjee's party a few months ago in Bihar. An elementary thing in politics is that for any political party there are some strong and some weak constituencies. Of these there are four states where traditionally, our party's influence has been weak. Perhaps, this fact was forgotten by Mukherjee."