Limit Of BJP's "Modi Factor" Exposed In Himachal, Delhi Civic Poll: CPI(M)

The results Himachal Pradesh Assembly election and the Delhi civic polls "exposed the BJP's vulnerability" and brought to the fore the "limits of the much-touted Narendra Modi factor", the CPI(M) said on Thursday.

About the poll trend in Gujarat where the BJP was looking to get more than 150 seats in the 182-member assembly, the left party termed it "a confirmation of the deep communal polarization engineered by the BJP-RSS over the last three decades".

Commenting on the Himachal Pradesh trends showing Congress surging ahead of the BJP on 39 of the total 68 seats in the hill state, the CPI(M) said it was a "stinging defeat" for the saffron party.

Accusing the BJP of deploying "all its resources and the state machinery to try to retain power", the Left party said, "However, the popular discontent over BJP misrule prevailed." About the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election results which were announced Wednesday, it said that the people of the national capital "withstood all the blandishments and manoeuvres of the BJP and the Central government."

The Aam Aadmi Party won the MCD elections with 134 seats, ending the 15-year rule of the BJP in the civic body. The BJP bagged 104 seats while the Congress was reduced to nine in the 250-member municipal corporation.

"The results of Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have exposed the vulnerability of the BJP despite its huge money power and resources. The limits of the much-touted Modi factor have also come to the fore.

"The opposition parties should draw proper lessons from these results and draw up plans to put up an effective united opposition to the BJP state-wise by marshalling all the forces," the CPI(M) said in a statement.

It also said, "In Gujarat, the BJP's fifth successive victory is a confirmation of the deep communal polarization that has been engineered by the BJP-RSS over the last three decades." "The projection of a pan-Hindu identity along with the rhetoric about Gujarati pride have overcome the more vital issues like price rise, unemployment, and poor public health and educational facilities," the party added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)