Satisfaction in MP highest; Bihar, Bengal, Delhi see dip: CNN-IBN survey

Madhya Pradesh’s soft spoken and low profile chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is apparently the most favoured Chief Minister when it comes to people having to rate the governance provided by their respective state governments, according to a survey.

Another Congress political bete noire, Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik’s government in Odisha also recorded a rise in the degree of satisfaction towards its functioning, the survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for CNN-IBN and The Hindu, said.

The survey also compared the findings of the June-July 2013 survey in comparison to that the figures from a polls conducted in July 2011.

During the 2011 poll, 75 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the Madhya Pradesh government, while 12 percent expressed their unhappiness with its performance.

However, not showing any signs of anti-incumbency, this figure jumped up to 82 percent in terms of satisfaction towards the state government in 2013, and the number in the dissatisfied category fell to seven percent.

Similar trends were noticed in Odisha as well, with the number of satisfied people rising to 79 percent in 2013 against 72 percent in 2011. The figure in the dissatisfied category also came down to 20 percent in 2013 from 22 percent in 2011, the study revealed.

For Patnaik, whose government faces challenges like heightened Maoist activity and disputes over land acquisition for industries, the figures will be heartening ahead of the Odisha assembly polls in 2014.

However, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar definitely has a challenge at hand as his popularity seems to be fast dwindling. In July 2011, 90 percent were satisfied with the state government’s performance while nine percent disliked it. But in the latest survey, 69 percent of the respondents were happy with the Bihar government while the number of percentage of people not satisfied with it stood at 25 percent.

The recent midday meal scheme horror that claimed 23 innocent lives of children will only add to the woes of Nitish Kumar.  Not long ago, the Janata Dal (United) severed a 17-year-old political alliance in Bihar with the Bharatiya Janata Party on the pretext that the latter might project Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as National Democratic Alliance’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The study discovered that anti-incumbency in Bihar increased by nearly three times in the over two years.

West Bengal too is showing a sharp decline in terms of satisfaction index from 79 percent to 50 percent. The dissatisfaction in the Trinamool Congress-administered state under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has skyrocketed from nine percent in 2011 to 42 percent in 2013.

Normally regarded as an efficient chief minister, Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh has also failed to maintain his 2011 record. The number of people favouring his government has slipped from 86 percent to 75 percent, while 14 percent disapproved of his governance in 2013 as opposed to 13 percent in 2011.

Although most BJP/NDA ruled states were rated better performing than those ruled by Congress/UPA, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, emerged as exceptions. The Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan got a thumbs up from 65 percent in 2013 as compared to 58 percent in 2011. People dissatisfied with it also fell from 26 percent in 2011 to 23 percent in 2013.

Maharashtra’s Prithviraj Chavan also managed a better show, according to the CSDS poll. While in 2011, 55 percent approved of the state government’s working, in 2013 this has climbed to 64 percent. The number of people unhappy with it has also come down to 29 percent from 32 percent earlier.

Delhi, which is going to polls later this year, will not be an easy task for the Congress to retain. The dissatisfaction with the Sheila Dikshit government which was already high in 2011 at 49 percent has now reached 61 percent in 2013. In both surveys, it was found that the percentage of dissatisfaction was higher than the percentage that approved of it. The numbers for Andhra Pradesh and Kerala also followed a similar trend.

Among the states going for elections in 2013, the sentiment of the people against the incumbent government was found to be highest in Delhi. Nearly two-third of the respondents in Delhi said they want the government to go and only about one-third said they want it to continue.

In the latest survey it was also seen that despite the fall in satisfaction, 68 percent of the respondents want the Raman Singh government to continue. This figure was 64 percent in 2011. Madhya Pradesh also recorded a high pro-incumbency sentiment. This figure reached 64 percent in 2013 as opposed to 50 percent in 2011.

Among the Congress-ruled states, Rajasthan made a remarkable reversal in two years. In 2011, 43 percent of the respondents wanted the Gehlot government to go but in 2013, 42 percent want the government to stay. The number of people who want it to be voted out has now come down to 36 percent.

As per the CSDS suvey, other Congress-led governments in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Kerala might find it hard to retain power in the next assembly polls.