Kolkata: Claiming that it is wrong to suggest there is a saffron wave with the BJP winning in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the CPI(M) on Sunday asserted that it would be a different ball game in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP tightened its grip in the Hindi heartland with assembly victories in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while the Congress was set to oust the BRS from Telangana.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the grand old party has secured a significant percentage of votes in all the four states, including Telangana where it is poised for a victory.
He refused to accept that the Congress has got itself confined to the southern part of India.
“It is wrong to say there is a saffron wave because the BJP is winning in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. They are winning now, but whether this will continue is to be seen,” he told reporters here.
Chakraborty asserted that the Lok Sabha elections will be a “different ball game”.
Batting for the Congress party, which was suffering a poll debacle in the three states, he said that it would not be right to suggest that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ did not have a positive impact on the people.
The CPI(M) leader said that after the Gandhi family scion’s yatra across the country, elections were also held in Karnataka, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress fared well.
“Congress had snatched Karnataka from the BJP and also won in Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
Stating that there is space for both the ruling and opposition camps in politics, Chakraborty said losing the elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh does not mean that the Congress has been annihilated there.
“In Bengal, those who had written the epitaph of the Left after the TMC came to power, are now acknowledging their presence in strength in the state,” he said.
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