Chandigarh: BJP made a clear edge over its rivals in the Municipal polls in Haryana, winning 22 civic bodies on Wednesday.
Where its ally JJP won only three seats, most of the remaining local bodies went to the Congress.
AAP has won just a single seat, giving rest to BJP's worries over the Delhi-party gaining ground in the state.
BJP's win surprised many analysts, considering the upheaval of farmers protests months before.
Indeed, municipal polls do not reflect rural mindset as farm unrest had nothing to with urban life.
However, not everybody out there must be entirely urban in their outlook.
Many still have family links with the villages and they have relatives working on farms.
Given this, managing to win nearly half of the total civic bodies mean BJP has made up with the farmers.
Or at least a lot of them do not hold grudge to the BJP leadership anymore.
This could be clearer if you remember BJP had lost both bypolls in Baroda and Ellenabad during the farm agitation.
Lagging court cases and other reasons held up civic polls for months.
For which the ruling BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar regime was blamed roundly by the opposition.
Imagine if the polls were held during farmers protest, BJP-JJP would have found it hard to campaign.
Resentment against the government at grassroots was at feverish pitch.
According to the Indian Express, BJP's performance Uttar Pradesh assembly polls boosted the party's morale in the state.
The Congress, rift apart by inner fight, lost its organisational base in the state.
The party leadership openly admitted to it and chose not to contest the election with the party symbol.
Nothing worst could have befallen the state congress in recent times.
There were party-backed candidates to whom senior leaders gave a cold shoulder, leaving them to their devices.
A lot of them came up smiling, thanks to the party's roots in the state which the leadership has taken for granted.
It is about time the party at least listened to the voices at the grassroots.
The AAP made a flimsy start in the state opening its account. The tiny municipality of Ismailabad is in its hands now.
Expectations were very high for AAP and Madhyamam, like most other analysts, believed that the AAP would fill the vacuum left behind by the Congress.
Obviously, the AAP leadership must have expected at least a decent win, which didn't happen.
Many analysts have fantasies about AAP singly countering BJP in the forthcoming Parliament polls, quickly expanding the party beyond Delhi and Punjab.
These ideas are quite beside the point considering the efforts the APP put into the polls and its outcome in the state.
AAP could at least keep the morale alive among its carders for future fights.