Through his analysis of Delhi election results, former finance minister P Chidambaram seems to have told Rahul Gandhi that Indian National Congress will score a duck in 2021 and 22 assembly elections.

Delhi election is one of the high profile polls fought by the political parties in India in recent months. The results were announced on February 11 and Aam Admi Party (AAP) has swept it and emerged as the single largest party. While AAP gets ready to form the government in the national capital, the political experts are busy analyzing the results of this most-talked about fight.

Soon after the results were announced, Congress leader P Chidambaram went on to take dig at the BJP. The former union minister tweeted, “AAP won, bluff and bluster lost. The people of Delhi, who are from all parts of India, have defeated the polarising, divisive and dangerous agenda of the BJP I salute the people of Delhi who have set an example to other states that will hold their elections in 2021 and 2022.”

Post this comment, P Chidambaram faced a lot of criticism not just from the BJP leaders, but also from the leaders of his own Congress party. But he seemed to be undeterred by the flood of wrath rushing towards him, as he apparently went to be defensive about his comment. In a series of tweets post 5 hours later, he explained why he thinks the BJP would suffer in upcoming elections in 2021 and 2022.

P Chidambaram tweeted, “If the voters represent the views of the states they came from, the Delhi vote is a booster for the confidence of the Opposition that the BJP can be defeated in every state. Remember, when Delhi voted, millions of Malayalees, Tamils, Telugus, Bengalis, Gujaratis and people who came from other states of India voted. The Delhi vote is close to an All India vote than to a state-specific vote. Because Delhi is a mini India.”

P Chidambaram may be facing some corruption charges at the moment, but one can’t overlook his contribution to the Indian economy during his tenure as the union finance minister. He has won the hearts of many economists with his brilliant analysis of numbers and issues hindering the growth of the economy of the country. In that light, one can’t deny the facts shown by his analysis of Delhi elections and his prediction seems to be bang on.

The ruling AAP and BJP have won 62 and 8 and registered 53.57 and 38.51 percent votes, respectively in the latest Delhi Assembly elections. On the other hand, Indian National Congress, which ruled Delhi for three terms before the AAP came to power, has received 4.26 percent votes in this election and failed to win even single seat.

Around 11 states like West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are set for their assembly elections in 2021 and 2022. Maximum number of these states are ruled by the BJP, while Congress has only state like Punjab for its credit of power. Some regional parties are in power in a few states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

There are two interesting things to note here. Firstly, like in Delhi, there is a triangle battle among the BJP, Congress and a regional political party in almost all these states. Secondly, Congress has shown pathetic performance in the recent elections in these states. The results show that this party is sinking ship in almost all of these states.

When P Chidambaram predicted results of 2021 and 22 elections in his first tweet on February 11, he was obviously referring to the polls in the above-mentioned states. Going by his logic, the BJP will lose power in the states that is ruling now or may not come to power in the states, where it is trying hard. If you replicate the results of Delhi, Congress will land in third place in all the states, while some regional party take over the power.

Many people understood that P Chidambaram was taking dig at the BJP in his first tweet of February 11. But this political analyst might have been scared of showing his predictions to Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leader directly. He might have used a sarcastic remark to tell them that Congress would score a duck in all the upcoming elections to be held in these states in 2021 and 2022.