Hectic political parleys marked the eve of counting of votes for five State assemblies, billed as semi-finals before the 2019 general elections, with the Congress asserting that the mandate from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram on Tuesday would send a “clear message” against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
New Delhi:
Rejecting exit-poll predictions, most of which have forecast gains for Congress in at least four states, including a clear majority in Rajasthan, BJP leaders said the final results should be awaited even as they sought to de-link the State polls from next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
However, the stock markets reacted negatively with the benchmark Sensex plummeting by over 700 points on Monday, tracking the exit poll results.
In Telangana, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi met interim chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao to extend his support and said he was certain about the ruling TRS coming back to power, while the BJP also hinted at its possible support.
The Congress-led alliance, however, appeared upbeat that it would get the mandate to dislodge KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, and form the next government. It also told Governor ESL Narasimhan that it should be treated as a single entity in the event of no party getting a clear majority.
In Madhya Pradesh, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath exuded confidence that his party would get at least 140 seats to form a majority government.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in Rajasthan is seeking to defy a recent trend of the saffron party and the Congress being in power alternately. Counting of votes for the five assemblies would begin at 8 am on Tuesday.
Stormy winter session looms
The winter session beginning on Tuesday is likely to witness a united Opposition piling pressure on the government on a plethora of issues, including the exit of the RBI Governor, rumblings in the CBI and Rafale deal, while parties like Shiv Sena are set to make a renewed pitch for Ram temple in Ayodhya. At an all-party meeting on Monday, PM Narendra Modi said the government is ready to discuss all issues of national importance in Parliament.