What a win !

They say the PM will be the first to do a Nehru encore- do a two term in the parliament.Here's what I think worked for this govt. in teh elections-

1. This election was a formality - the govt. had handled and won in the past year many battles with the opposition so winning this war was a formality. The trust vote; the nuclear deal; the immediate political action after 26/11 - the PC move to Home, the instant CM change in Mah., the pursuit of Pakistan; the immediate action after Satyam- the enquiry, new board, the sale;the stock market management from letting it crash to 7500 and recover to 12000 and even the thorny Jagdish Tytler affair on the eve of elections- all of this in just the last year was a testinomy of a solid working govt.

2. Agendas : The BJP didn't puruse any agenda- they didn't chase the job-loss story, the fiscal deficit, the rising prices, the Satyam scam and just repeated the temple agenda as their leaders fought. The country had moved on. The left lost after three generations of ruling Bengal- they couldn't save the Nano jobs and prevented the nuclear deal which everyone thought was good for the country.

3. Leaders - I think Rahul Gandhi symbolizes youth and his entry has led to many many young people joining congress in leadership positions, BJP has none. Modi and Jaitley couldn't reconcile the rest of the leaders. Pramod Mahajan was missed. Not changing Vsundhrara raje scindhia cost them Rajastahan. Lalu ran out of funny one-liners while Nitish attempts to build roads like Hema Mailni's cheeks were rewarded. The PM is an economist, intelligent and clean guy.

4. Work on ground - Rahul worked in the hinterland for the last 2 odd years , making inroads into Mayavati turf, Mamata eroded the left with her victory on Nano, YSR freed hospitals from corporates and gave them to the poor, Karunanidhi delivered 60 lac TVs as promised, Shiela Dixit is awesome - running Delhi like a company and Shashi Tharoor is a cool guy - he walked across and cleared his posters in trivananthapuram. Sonia turned out to be a great leader, selflessly holding the fort together.

The next 5 years will rock.

Sensex at 25000 is my biggest bet.