New Delhi: Indians are clearly not biased towards a BJP or a non-BJP ruled state when it comes to their anger against their state governments and chief ministers.
According to the Anger Index, a survey conducted by CVoter opinion poll on behalf of IANS, Indians are most angry with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (a Congress leader), and least angry with Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel (also a Congress leader).
Gehlot is followed by BJP leader and Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.
Rajasthan’s numbers aren’t surprising given the latest crisis in the state government and the open rebellion between the two powerheads in the state Congress — Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot. The latter has been referred to as a “reluctant CM”, however, once Pilot’s name was floated as the new CM, the crisis in the state unit deepened.
This wasn’t the first time that the state leadership was divided over a power struggle. While the state leadership, the CM included, was so busy with infighting, Rajasthan also registered the highest unemployment rate, according to CMIE data.
Equally interesting is the fact that Chhattisgarh recently emerged as a state with least unemployment rate among all the states; and one can’t overlook the fact that Chhattisgarh CM has emerged top-ranked as far as managing public anger is considered.
Another interesting fact is that the CMs who have scored better on the Anger Index mostly come from non-BJP ruled states — Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has appeared as the lone BJP CM from Assam with only 12.2 per cent respondents unhappy with him.
Indians are least angry with Delhi’s state governance at 28 per cent while Telangana has managed to miff off most of their electorate – 66.8 per cent are angry with the condition of state governance in the K. Chandrasekar Rao-led southern state.
It’s interesting to note that the relations between these two states and Centre aren’t on the best of terms. While the Delhi government is known to be at loggerheads with the Lieutenant Governor (appointed by the Centre), recent not-so-friendly statements made by KCR against the Centre have been making headlines.
The data collated under Anger Index has thrown up federal fault lines which, after a promising start with Modi’s call for a “competitive, cooperative federalism”, is again on the brink.
However, interestingly when it comes to local governance, anger against Delhi’s local governance is the most at 30.7 per cent while respondents were least angry with Telangana’s local governance at 5.4 per cent.
–IANS