The Hindu : National : BJP concedes defeat gracefully

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Sunday, May 17, 2009
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National

BJP concedes defeat gracefully

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has graciously accepted defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, saying it is “the best mandate to rule in favour of the UPA [United Progressive Alliance].”

A short statement, issued after its parliamentary board met on Saturday evening, congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, adding that although no party or alliance got a clear majority, “the BJP is of the opinion that the logical culmination of this mandate is that the UPA be invited to form the government.”

In fact, hours before the board met at the residence of party leader L.K. Advani, general secretary Arun Jaitley informally accepted that the mandate favoured the UPA, which won seats far more than its 2004 tally, while the BJP was not able to reach even its low 2004 election figure of 138. Mr. Jaitley said the BJP “respects and accepts the will of the people” as demonstrated through the ballot box.

The board’s statement said the party accepted the mandate “with all humility” and would do “its best to honour the spirit of the mandate.” Later, party leaders said the BJP would “cooperate” with the new government.

Mr. Jaitley noted that the Congress made huge gains in States where dominant partners of the Third Front were in the fray.

While a detailed analysis would be done later, it was noted that “after the first phase of elections in U.P., where the BJP performed well,” the Muslim, Brahmin and even Dalit votes moving away from the Samajwadi Part and Bahujan Samaj Party went to the Congress when the BJP had expected to be the beneficiary of at least the Brahmin and other forward caste votes.

However, Mr. Jaitley said, where there were “strong regional satraps” — Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, B.S. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka, Naveen Patnaik in Orissa and Nitish Kumar in Bihar — the Congress had not performed well. Mr. Jaitley said he did not think the ‘Modi as Prime Minister’ chant midway through the campaign damaged the BJP’s prospects.

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