Narendra Modi, Tarun Gogoi

Guwahati, Oct. 20: The BJP’s surge in Maharashtra and Haryana has not been replicated in the bypolls held in three northeastern states, the results of which indicated that the BJP still has a lot of work to unseat the ruling parties in the region.

Bypoll was held to one seat each in three states and the ruling parties (the Congress in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and the Naga People’s Front in Nagaland) have emerged winners. The Congress is also in power in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram while the Left Front is in power in Tripura.

The results once again showed that the ruling parties in each of the seven states were still the parties to beat despite the BJP’s nationwide surge since the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress’s Gabriel D. Wangsu and the NPF’s Neiphrezo Keditsu beat BJP candidates in straight contests in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland respectively. The Congress (Elangbam Dwijamani Singh) beat the Trinamul Congress to win the Manipur seat where the BJP finished third in a five-way race.

The three-time Assam chief minister was swift to take a dig at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweeter post. “In spite of hectic election campaigning by PM Modi and other BJP leaders, the BJP just managed to cross the half-way mark in Haryana. In Maharashtra the BJP did not get a simple majority. Is it a wave? Or is the wave on the wane?” Gogoi tweeted. Even AICC secretary in-charge of Mizoram and Tripura, Bhupen Kumar Borah, said: “The results have proved that there is no Modi magic in the Northeast.”

Though Gogoi — who suffered a major setback in the Lok Sabha polls because of the Modi magic and infighting — could not explain the reason in the 140-character Twitter post, PCC media secretary Rhituporna Konwar, said the chief minister’s response was based on the leads the BJP had in the Assembly segments during the general elections.

“In Maharasthra, the BJP was leading in 145 Assembly segments seats but won only 122 seats while in Haryana it won 47 seats despite leading in 50-plus Assembly segments. Where is the Modimagic/wave then?” Konwar asked by way of explanation.