If the Bharatiya Janata Party's win against odds in the Haryana polls helped it blunt the impression of an ascendent Congress, the ruling party will look to decisively turn the tables on the INDIA bloc in the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand where regional satraps are being seen as lynchpins to the Opposition's campaign.
An impressive performance in Jharkhand and, especially, Maharashtra assembly polls next month by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will lay to rest the doubts over the party's political dominance after its underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls and strike a body blow to the Opposition.
However, a strong Opposition show in the two states promises to revitalise its ranks following the Congress defeat in Haryana, where the party was seen as the favourite.
While the Congress is the biggest opposition party in Maharashtra, its allies Sharad Pawar, who heads a Nationalist Congress Party faction, and Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray are being seen as the two main faces of the alliance.
The former Union minister is considered as the key strategist of its campaign.
In Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is the principal opposition party.
With 48 Lok Sabha seats and home to the country's leading business houses, Maharashtra is considered a big prize in the national political sweepstakes.
"If we win the Maharashtra polls and we have the confidence of pulling it off, then it will be clear that people accept our contention that the Congress and its allies managed to mislead a section of voters in the Lok Sabha elections with a false narrative around the threat to Constitution from our party," a BJP leader from Maharashtra said, adding that its best-ever show in Haryana indicated such a mood among the masses.
While the Congress and the BJP were level in the Lok Sabha polls as both parties won five seats each, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi had inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mahayuti formation of the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP by bagging 31 of its 48 seats.
NDA leaders have pointed out that despite the gap in the seats of the two rival alliances, the difference in their vote share was less than one percent.
Home Minister Amit Shah, they said, has been laying out the groundwork for the alliance's comeback since its defeat in the national elections, with his focus on reaching out to different regions and communities, a strategy which paid off dividends in Haryana, besides ironing out any internal wrangling.
The recent announcement by the state government to set up welfare boards for different communities is a case in point.
However, the state's ruling alliance faces a different set of challenges in its bid to retain power.
Some political experts believe that its constituents and their leaders at times work at cross purposes to protect their own political turf, while the MVA has shown unity of purpose in taking on the BJP so far.
The Opposition has also been playing the sympathy card, which was a factor in the Lok Sabha polls, by accusing the BJP of engineering splits in the undivided Shiv Sena and the NCP for political gains.
The assembly polls will be critical to the fortunes of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and their respective party, as popular legitimacy or lack of it can make or mar their future.
Seat-sharing arrangement and ticket distribution will be the most tricky challenge for the two alliances in the coming days.
The state's local heavyweights who often command an independent following are prone to jumping ships to further their political clout.
In Jharkhand, the BJP faced a challenge in the tribal region in the Lok Sabha polls, a setback for the party which had invested heavily in its tribal leadership in the state.
The party has put its seasoned campaigners Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in charge of the elections in the state in its bid to rev up its organisational machinery, energise its campaign to defeat the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress alliance and build up issues around corruption and the alleged threat to tribal identity from suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators.
The Election Commission announced on Tuesday that the assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20, while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20.
Counting of votes for the two states will be held on November 23.
