India state polls fortify Modi wave

(MENAFN- Arab News) MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party has made big gains in two Indian state elections results showed on Sunday. The right-wing ruling party tightened its grip on power after storming to center five months ago.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was assured of victory in Maharashtra of which financial hub Mumbai is the capital over its center-left rival the Congress party which ruled the western state with its allies for 15 years.

BJP won 122 of 288 seats in Maharashtra. This more than doubles its seat count in the western state which is home to the financial hub of Mumbai but falls short of an outright majority.

The BJP won 47 of 90 seats in Haryana which borders the capital New Delhi enough to rule alone.

Celebrations erupted at BJP headquarters in Mumbai with supporters lighting firecrackers feeding each other sweets throwing flower petals and shouting 'Long live Mother India!' although the party is likely to fall short of an absolute majority.

The BJP won outright for the first time in Haryana which borders the national capital handing the once-powerful Congress a humiliating defeat after its 10-year rule of the state official results showed.

'We are two steps closer to our mission of a Congress-free India' BJP president Amit Shah told reporters in New Delhi with a grin as vote-counting continued.

'Today's results show that the Modi wave is still the tsunami that can destroy' Shah said after supporters placed a garland around his neck.

Modi a popular leader and fiery orator campaigned doggedly for the elections held last week. The victories are likely to encourage him to push ahead with promised economic reforms some of which could prove unpopular.

The nationalist leader won a landslide victory win at the national polls in May on a pledge to revive the ailing economy and clean up endemic corruption but many reforms have yet to be introduced.

On the eve of the results Modi's government lifted controls on diesel prices in an attempt to give market forces greater influence over the economy attract investment and cut subsidies.

Success for the BJP would also strengthen its power in the national parliament's upper house crucial for the passing of contentious laws. The BJP currently lacks a majority in that chamber whose composition is based on seats won in regional assemblies.

The defeats are yet another blow for Congress whose Gandhi dynasty has produced three prime ministers following its thumping loss to the BJP in May after 10 years in charge nationally.

Political analyst Samir Saran said the victories 'allow greater space to Modi to accelerate his reforms agenda.'

State elections determine seat shares in the upper house of Parliament where the BJP and its allies lack a majority. The BJP hopes for gains in a clutch of state polls between now and 2017 to get towards the majority it needs to pass most legislation without help from the opposition.

The 64-year-old Modi a gifted stump orator hit the campaign trail hard. He will be able to reap capital from the victories even though the BJP did not achieve its ambition of winning enough seats to rule Maharashtra alone.

'There is still a Modi wave that is like a tsunami' BJP president and Modi campaign manager Amit Shah told reporters after most of the seats had been declared.

'Today's results give a seal of approval to the Modi government over the past four months and prove that our countryfolk recognize Modi as an undisputed leader of India.'

Though the results represent major gains for the party since the last state elections the BJP's share of the vote in both Haryana and Maharashtra was just down from the May 2014 general election when it won the first outright majority in 30 years.

Both states which voted on Wednesday were formerly bastions of the Congress party that has long dominated Indian politics. As in the general election Congress was decimated and risks sliding into oblivion under mother-son duo Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

'Today is likely to be both a BJP win and a funeral of a 150-year-old party' said investment manager and columnist Surjit Bhalla referring to the organization founded in 1885 and led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty for four generations.