People of Punjab voted for change
The Congress scored a victory in Punjab, bagging 77 of the
117 seats in the Assembly elections. This is its first victory in a big State
since Karnataka 2013. It defeated Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party
alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party.
The
results suggest a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the SAD-BJP
coalition. This alliance failed to build
the State’s infrastructure. It
allowed consolidation of power in the Badal family and there were reports of
corruption and high-handedness.
As far as AAP is concerned, there were infightings in the party and there was absence
of a grassroots presence or a clear State leader.
The Congress will have to address the agrarian crisis as well
as high unemployment in the State. It will also have to tackle the drug problem by destroying the trafficking
nexus. Drugs are having adverse effect on youngsters particularly and Congress
will have a tough time while tackling this particular problem.
AAP failed to win Punjab simply because Arvind Kejriwal had
committed a big blunder of converting his party into centralised organisation,
with power concentrated in his hands. Also he and his party badly failed in in
projecting a strong chief ministerial candidate.
People cast their votes for change and not for Congress. The
credit should also go to Amarinder Singh for the excellent propaganda work he
did and to the party for coming up with a better manifesto.
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