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So, Anna Hazare has done what no Indian has ever done: rattle India’s most stable party – the Congress – and could this lead to him becoming the President of India one day?

The bypolls at Hisar (Haryana) and Daraunda (Bihar) show that Anna power has worked (he had told the people to vote against the Congress) and, if his influence continues to grow like now, the Congress may be on its way out from the Centre, unless it can heed to Anna’s demands while formulating the Lok Pal Bill.

Moreover, in two other bypolls recently (Banswada in Andhra Pradesh and Khadakwasla in Maharashtra), Anna’s voice found place in the hearts of people of two more states and thus resulted in the Congress being jolted from states ruled by the party.

This whitewash in the bypolls is a major setback for the Congress.

Anna’s campaign had such devastating effect on the party that it managed to come third in the Hisar byelection, for instance.

There are only two ways by which the party can save itself: one, it should incorporate all elements of Anna Hazare’s demands in the Lok Pal Bill, like bringing the Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lok Pal and the other way out is have Anna aides beaten up to intimidate him and his supporters.

If the violence succeeds to create fear on Anna and his supporters, it could act as a big impediment to the movement against corruption and the Lok Pal Bill.

This would see India’s biggest movement against corruption (which is giving a ray of hope to crores of Indians) wane and finally die down.

Meanwhile, Anna Hazare’s movement seems to have the support of the saffron brigade (read the RSS and the BJP), even though the hardcore Hindutva elements continue to deny it.

That is why the BJP is largely remaining silent on the matter

So, before the next general elections in 2014, Anna Hazare’s voice is set to get louder, and if the Congress fails to tame it, the party could become history, at least for the next five years (after which it can decide to project Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate).

Also, the numerous corruption cases and controversies surfacing from the Congress and its inability to douse them indicate that the party could be in for big trouble in the days to come.

And, the beneficiary of Congress party’s loss is (no prizes for guessing) the BJP.

Now, if the BJP comes to power, one of the things it is likely to do is drum up support for Anna Hazare (who is getting popular by the day) to become the next President of India as, till date, his credibility remains intact, even though various factions are giving their own versions of his intentions of protesting against corruption in high places.