The one-sided victory of the BJP-led Mahayuti in the Maharashtra assembly elections has once again proved that any election can be won only based on a perfect blend of strong collective leadership, ground preparation and hard work, and populist schemes. The Congress-led opposition failed to extend the effective narrative it had created during the Lok Sabha elections to the assembly elections of an important state like Maharashtra.

In these elections, while on one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was running a positive campaign like 'Ek Hain To Safe Hain', on the other hand, Yogi Adityanath's negative slogan 'Bantenge To Katenge' was also being used. Amidst these two slogans, the appeal of Muslim organizations to vote for Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) fulfilled the wish of the BJP-led alliance.

However, it cannot be said that the Mahayuti won only based on Hindutva. If this was the case, it would have won in Jharkhand as well. One reason for the victory in Maharashtra was the strong collective and local leadership.

Apart from this, the biggest factor in the victory was the 'Ladki Behen Yojana'. This proved to be a masterstroke for the Mahayuti government just like the 'Ladli Behen Yojana' worked for Shivraj Singh in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections last year. Then, like in Haryana, the RSS also held hundreds of meetings in Maharashtra and strengthened the agenda of BJP and Hindutva at the grassroots level.

Corruption and the Adani issue failed.
Rahul Gandhi's race on corruption has been from Adani to Adani. Corruption becomes an effective issue only when it directly affects the life of the common man, like if inflation is increasing due to corruption then it can become an election issue. But the opposition led by Rahul failed to understand this earlier and has failed again. Earlier, Congress's Rafale issue also failed.

Trusting a failed strategist proved wrong.
Keeping faith in failed election strategist Sunil Kongolu also proved costly for the Congress. During the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections, Sunil refused to handle the election campaign of Jammu and Kashmir and focused only on Haryana. What happened was that Congress had to face a huge defeat in Haryana, while the NC-Congress alliance won in Jammu and Kashmir. Similarly, Sunil ignored Jharkhand and focused only on Maharashtra.

Congress has performed its worst in Maharashtra, while the All India Alliance has returned to power in Jharkhand. For Congress, they are proving to be a 'paras' (reverse path). Whoever they touch turns into 'mud'.

Sympathy vote in Jharkhand!
French newspaper 'Le Monde' once remarked, 'Political prisoners are often given the status of martyrs in India, where prison becomes the gateway to power.' The same has happened in the case of Hemant Soren. Voters rallied behind him, forgetting his alleged corruption. Jharkhand has also shown that the tribal voters there cannot be influenced only by Hindu-centric issues. BJP may get some lessons from this on what should be its strategy in the tribal belt.

What will happen to the Indian alliance?
The defeat of MVA has also raised questions on the future of the Indian Alliance. Shinde and Ajit Pawar benefited from the alliance with BJP, while the performance of Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar weakened due to the alliance with Congress. In such a situation, the inclination of other small constituent parties of India may shift from 'India' to NDA given their respective interests in the future.

Not only did Congress perform poorly in Maharashtra, but in Jharkhand too, only the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was able to compete with the BJP.

Wherever BJP had a contest with Congress in the state, BJP performed better. Earlier, TMC in West Bengal claimed that it performed well in the Lok Sabha elections because it did not have an alliance with Congress there.

Some questions for the future…

• Just as Hemant Soren's jail visit has given him a political advantage, will Arvind Kejriwal also get a similar benefit when the assembly elections are held in Delhi early next year?
• Will the Aam Aadmi Party now want to contest the Delhi Assembly elections on its own instead of allying with the Congress? Because now every regional party is seeing the Congress as a burden.
• Samajwadi Party has performed very poorly in the by-elections of Uttar Pradesh. Don't other regional parties including SP need to make major changes in their strategies?
• The defeat of MVA in Maharashtra is a big setback for Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Could this prove to be the end of their political journey?

Shock to 'Brand Rahul Gandhi', Priyanka's rise!
Rahul Gandhi, who was emerging as a strong leader and an alternative to Narendra Modi in June 2024, has now faced a poor performance in the assembly elections within six months. This will hurt his political credibility. He will have to understand that he cannot win big political battles by focusing only on issues like Adani and the caste census. At the same time, Priyanka Gandhi's victory in Wayanad has increased the strength of her and her team within the Congress. This can bring Priyanka Gandhi into a more important role.

Here, the Congress high command also has to understand that victory in elections is achieved through field preparations, issues, and cadres. It cannot rely only on strategists like Sunil Kongolu. This is also the time for the Congress to sideline its tired leaders and hand over the leadership to the new generation.