Miss Alone
Prime VIP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday set to create history in Assam by ousting Congress which also lost Kerala to the Left front while incumbents AIADMK and Trinamool Congress retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal for a second consecutive term.
The Congress’ electoral downslide continued as its scandal-tainted coalition government lost to the Left in Kerala. The party, which has lost six state elections since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, however, defeated the regional All India NR Congress (AINRC) in Puducherry .
This is how newspapers in India played out the election results in headlines:
• Livemint: Saffron spreads
The BJP was the biggest winner of the day as it also picked up its first assembly seat in Kerala and several in West Bengal.
• The Indian Express: BJP sizzles, Congress melts
Jayalalithaa, the first Tamil Nadu chief minister to be re-elected in three decades, spoke about how all parties were against her: “I believed in God and had associated myself with the people,” she said.
• The Telegraph
Mamata Banerjee’s charisma saw her ruling Trinamool Congress notching up a nearly three-fourths majority in a House of 294, despite a campaign rocked by allegations of corruption by party leaders.
• Business Standard: BJP spreads wings, Cong shrinks
The BJP’s impressive show will revive a drive to expand its footprint beyond its traditional base in north India, an attempt that was derailed by back-to-back reverses in Delhi and Bihar last year.
• The Financial Express: BJP becomes a more Bharatiya party
In Assam, a credible local face in the shape of Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, strategic alliances with local outfits and a tempered Hindutva agenda that exploited local fears of being swamped by illegal immigrants proved a successful recipe for the party.
• Hindustan Times: BJP gains, Didi & Amma remain
• The Hindu: AIADMK, Trinamool win; Cong. routed in Kerala, Assam
• The Economic Times: BJP back as Shah of Bharat’s politics
• Navbharat Times (NBT)
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said “We will introspect on the reasons for our loss and rededicate ourselves to the service of the people with greater vigour… hope that good governance and development shall remain the centre point of political discourse.”
• Mail Today: The art of lotus farming
• The Times of India: A Congless India, almost
• Hindustan
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