'Separating Jharkhand from Maharashtra, Haryana polls to aid BJP'

RANCHI: BJP is pinning hope on a series of events ahead of the polls in Jharkhand after the Thursday road bump that the party experienced in terms of performance in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections. The leaders apparently took a sigh of relief over their own decision to go solo instead of going to the polls, along with the two states, the results of which have thrown surprise to the NDA.
One of the senior BJP leaders told TOI that after a lot of brainstorming, the state unit had voted against the idea of going for the polls with Haryana and Maharashtra. "It was a well-calculated decision because the party which talks of one nation one election theory was expected to dissolve the Jharkhand assembly and go for the polls in October only, given the fact that term of Jharkhand assembly was expiring within two months by December 27," the senior party leader said justifying their internal calculation and recommendation to the centre accordingly.
Spokesperson Jharkhand state BJP Pratul Shahdeo said that since the elections in Maharashtra and Haryana are over the central leaders and ministers are now free and can focus exclusively on Jharkhand. "We wanted the Central leaders to be able to dedicate their time and energy for Jharkhand and now confident that even the prime minister would be able to address people ahead of the elections," he said.
Party insiders also believe that the elections result of these two states are litmus test for the continuation of Modi magic in the country. BJP leaders admit that the same magic wand is not effective when it comes to state politics and accordingly, they must retune their campaign strategy. "Some of the regional issues like Bharat Ratna to Savarkar in Maharashtra and in Haryana went ahead with the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir to incite nationalist feelings but apparently both the models did not cut much ice with the voters and they gave chance to alternates like NCP and JJP in Maharashtra and Haryana respectively which is an eye opener for us," a party member said on condition of anonymity.
Party's state general secretary Deepak Prakash however sounded upbeat and said the BJP's permanent slogan is related to development and nationalism which would remain the cardinal points of its campaign strategy in Jharkhand as well. "Everyone takes lessons from success and failure and we are no exception but the election results have merely reminded us to remain vigilant," he added.