Cong loses Hisar, other byelections -ToI-18.10.11

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

                     
New Delhi: The Congress has drawn a blank in the four by-elections in four different states. As the results were announced on Monday, the perception of the party reeling under the double sting of corruption and inflation deepened. 
    Congress’s defeat in Hisar, where Team Anna sided with Congress’s opponents, was not unexpected as it was not a Congress seat. But the fact that its candidate Jai Prakash lost his security deposit, and the party actually eroded its share of the popular vote, reinforced popular belief in the “Anna factor” in elections. 
    Pundits said that the outcome of the bypolls was the cumulative impact of a host of local factors and old considerations of caste and community. Almost all analysts said that Anna did not determine the outcome in Hisar, where the poll was caused by the death of Bhajan Lal, and the victor this time was his son Kuldeep Bishnoi. But still, they conceded that the results would reinforce the perception of Congress being on the decline. 
    The Congress’s defeat in the assembly by-elections in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh was hardly surprising, as the two seats were not held by it. What was surprising was the defeat of its ally, NCP, in Khadakvasala in Maharashtra, a stronghold of Sharad Pawar’s. BJP won this seat. There was speculation that it had received support from Raj Thackeray’s MNS. 
    BJP, flush with its successes, was already stoking the perception, while Team Hazare leapt on the Hisar result to warn Congress about the cost of not passing the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Winter Session. ‘No Anna factor in Hisar’ 
    The Congress came third here, behind Bishnoi of Haryana Janhit Party (backed by BJP) and Indian National Lok Dal’s Ajay Chautala. 
    Bishnoi brushed aside the talk of the Anna factor in Hisar, emphasizing the “legacy” of his father Bhajan Lal. The synergy between BJP and HJC brought about a strong consolidation of non-Jat voters like Brahmins, Banias, Punjabis and Dalits. But what should worry Congress more is the Jat vote which seems to have moved away towards the INLD. The real upset, though, was in Kadakvasla where NCP strongman Ajit Pawar put up the widow of an MLA who had represented Shiv Sena breakaway MNS, making the contest a prestige clash. BJP’s success, with hints of covert support from MNS, is ablow to Pawar in an area of his influence and indicates that if united, Hindutva parties can prove a handful for the Congress-NCP combine. TNN