It was a day when the political fate of three chief ministers was decided. The first, who despite apparent odds stormed back to power, had an air of quiet satisfaction about him after an electoral landslide that effectively demolished his opponents. The second was relieved that he had managed to cling on to power after daring his party leadership while the third threw in the towel quietly.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar vanquished his political rivals, leading his party to a spectacular performance at the hustings with over 200 of the 243 Assembly seats pocketed by the combine of which he was the sole mascot. By doing so, he shattered many a myth to prove that the electorate in Bihar is swayed more by performance and development rather than by caste considerations.
Before the elections, Mr Kumar was never afraid to speak his mind even if it meant jolting his alliance partner, the BJP. Outraged by the publishing of an advertisement showing him with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, he had even cancelled his dinner invitation with top BJP leaders a few months ago. The episode rocked the alliance but did not break it.
The results came on a day when Karnataka CM B.S. Yeddyurappa was thanking his own stars that he had saved his job. Under fire for allegedly doling out land to his sons and favours to other relatives, he was under intense pressure from the BJP bosses to resign. But while the caste factor did not work in Bihar, Mr Yeddyurappa leveraged it in his hour of crisis. The CM left his party leadership in no doubt that the days of the BJP’s first government in southern India would be numbered in case he was sent packing. The looming panchayat elections in Karnataka and fear of antagonising a powerful community proved decisive. The show of strength worked, proving that the man was indeed indispensable for his party, at least for the moment.
For the third politician, Andhra Pradesh chief minister K. Rosaiah, it was a quiet walk into the sunset. Mr Rosaiah took over at a difficult time in September 2009.
But with no towering leader of comparable stature at the helm in Andhra, the Congress soon found its political fortunes unravelling with alarming speed. India’s grand old party was hit by the Telengana agitation that aimed at bifurcation of the state and formation of a new Telengana state.
The agitation of the K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS shook the Congress and along with it, Mr Rosaiah’s crown. But what proved more formidable was the nagging rebellion of the young Jaganmohan Reddy.
This time, the insult was too much to bear. The Congress probably decided that the ageing chief minister was not the right man to stave off the challenger. Reading the writing on the wall and unable to withstand the intense political heat, the low-key veteran cited health reasons and put in his papers. Indeed, a massive swing of fortunes that affected three chief ministers on a single day.