New Delhi: Knocking out Congress from its bastions, the Modi wave on Sunday placed BJP on the cusp of forming a government in Maharashtra with unexpected support from NCP while it stormed to power on its own in Haryana. The assembly elections, seen as the first major test of Narendra Modi's popularity since the Lok Sabha success, reflected the continued dominance of BJP in the two states, where he mounted an aggressive campaign. In Haryana, the party got a majority on its own for the first time winning 47 of the 90 seats, up from a meagre four in the last elections. Congress, which ruled the state for ten years, was reduced to 15 from 40 seats. INLD came second with 19 seats. The BJP also put up a remarkable show in Maharashtra, where it junked its oldest ally Shiv Sena over seat sharing, by bagging 122 seats in the 288-member Assembly, 23 short of majority figure of 145. It had won 47 in the last elections. Shiv Sena was left with 63 seats and could play no significant role with NCP (41 seats) offering unexpected and unconditional outside support to BJP to form the government.
The Congress, which headed the government, was reduced to 42 from 81 it had in the outgoing House. The MNS, headed by Raj Thackeray, was routed getting only one seat against 13 it had. Instead, the Hyderabad-based Muslim Majlis opened its account with two seats. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray hinted as much when he said he would not like to give unsolicited support because BJP may take the backing of NCP which was in power with the Congress for the last 15 years. NCP was described by Modi as Nationalist Corrupt Party as he had attacked its leaders Sharad Pawar and others as coming from the "same Congress clan". The BJP Parliamentary Board met in the evening but ahead of it party chief Amit Shah made it clear that he was not averse to NCP support, virtually ignoring its 25 year old saffron partner Shiv Sena.
Modi, who attended the meeting, described BJP's victory in the two states as "historic" and said it was a matter of immense happiness and pride for the party. Shah said the victory was the stamp of approval on the performance and policies of the Modi government and demonstrated that the Modi wave was not over as claimed by rivals on the basis of small by-elections victories recently. As speculation mounted as to whether the BJP will approach Sena, NCP leader Praful Patel announced outside support to it in government formation in the "interest" of stability and development of the state. "NCP has decided to extend support to the proposed government of the BJP in Maharashtra... There is no option but to see that the largest party forms a stable government. Also the BJP is ruling in the Centre and it will benefit the state," Patel told reporters. The BJP had contested 257 seats on its own and gave its symbol to 23 allied candidates. Its ally Rashtriya Samaj Paksha won a lone seat. In the outgoing House, Shiv Sena had 45 seats. The Congress had 81 and the NCP 62.
