State of the Union
Political state of affairs The latest round of elections concluded with results of five state assemblies announced yesterday. BJP managed to retain their power in two states - Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – with a comfortable majority, though the number of seats is lower than the outgoing assemblies. In two other states – Goa and Manipur - BJP is well placed to make a government. In Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has wiped out the traditional parties (SAD and Congress) in one of the major upsets. Overall, the latest elections must be seen as continuation of some key political trends that started emerging in the past decade that saw emergence of BJP as a primary political party in the country and decimation of the Congress Party. BJP must be relieved after these elections that saw the entire central government, including the prime minister and home minister. Though less number of seats in Key states of UP and Punjab would mean that BJP leadership would have to remain busy till ...