BJP has something to cheer in MP

MANDATE 2004/ ELSEWHERE

Contrary to the national mood, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) juggernaut swept the general elections in Madhya Pradesh bagging 25 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats, four more than its tally of 1999, as Congress' kitty was halved to four.

Replicating its stunning victory of last year's Assembly polls, an aggressive BJP displayed its dominance over Mahakoshal, Malwa, Vindhya and Chambal regions of this second largest state of the country.

The saffron party also managed to wrest four seats from the main opposition Congress, which appeared a diffident unit in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections following the severe drubbing it received in the Assembly polls.

The BJP's winning spree witnessed the party bagging nine seats in its traditional stronghold of Malwa region, where it wrested Dhar and Khargone from the Congress, which however, managed to retain the tribal-dominated Jhabua.

In the backward and politically sensitive region of Mahakoshal, housing seven Lok Sabha seats, the BJP won all but the high-profile Chhindwara.

In the Chambal-Vindhya region, comprising 11 seats, the BJP secured nine leaving Gwalior and Guna to the main Opposition.

The BJP surge was evident ever since it trounced Congress in the Assembly elections with a landslide three-fourths majority in the 230-member House as Congress failed to offer any resistance to counter the saffron party in the run-up to the general elections.