BJP conducts Congress valuation correction

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Congress bring to the table? This is the only question that other opposition parties in the INDIA formation are asking — not without furtive schadenfreude — now that the GOP has lost in three of the five (Mizoram results are out today) state assembly polls in the latest dipstick test of citizenry confidence. For those of an empirical bent of mind, the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh verdicts are proof in the pudding that where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is pitted directly against Congress, the latter ends up second-best. Congress can take solace that, if not the 'global south', at least in 'national south', regional 'buffers' like the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) are there for it to come up trumps, as it did in Telangana.

Credit for yesterday's results largely goes to Brand Modi.

But it would be short-sighted to not acknowledge BJP Ltd. By all reckoning, it was trailing in the soft sand of anti-incumbency in Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh, under the Bhupesh Baghel administration, was also not quite Planet Modi for the taking.

As for Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot seemed to tell us that everything that was a problem (read: Sachin Pilot), he had got it under control. BJP being a party that doubles down in the face of a challenge, did double down. The rest, as they say, are poll results.

Legacy works both ways — as brand equity and overweight baggage.

For Congress, legacy amounted to both its May 2013 Karnataka election victory as well as to its older taken-for-granted heritage. Unfortunately, for the party, legacy doesn't win you elections. Which returns us to the point of INDIA in the more expansive Lok Sabha elections space.