But sacrificing a handful of top officials may not save the Congress Party and its allies from a drubbing（殴打、痛击、彻底击败） at the state polls. The opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has leaped at the opportunity（抓住这个机会） to leverage the threat of Islamist terrorism and government security failures to its advantage as voters prepare to go to the polls in key state elections later this month. Just days after the terrorists occupied ritzy（豪华的、高级的） hotels and killed some 195 people, the BJP printed posters in New Delhi proclaiming itself to be the party that would have prevented such attacks. The turnout for state polls in New Delhi on Nov. 29 was considerably higher than expected. When India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, chaired an all-party crisis meeting this weekend to discuss the nation's security situation, his direct rival in the BJP, the 82-year-old L.K. Advani, failed to show up because he had duties campaigning in the western state of Rajasthan.

Advani's move drew criticism from India's press, but the Congress Party may yet suffer. Results in New Delhi are awaited, while more elections follow later this week in Rajasthan and the vast central state of Madhya Pradesh. Defeats for the ruling party now would augur poorly for general elections, to be held next May. "We may take a beating," says Congress Member of Parliament Milind Deora, who represents the affluent South Mumbai constituency, which bore the brunt of the terrorist attacks last week. The ruling party replaced outgoing Home Minister Patil with the much-respected Finance Minister P. Chidambaran. But like the government's proposal on Monday to recruit 500 new commandos to an élite counterterrorism unit, the reshuffle seems a little too late.