Congress defies predictions to win handsomely in state polls

Congress defies predictions to win handsomely in state pollsNew Delhi/Jaipur/Raipur, Dec 9 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) met here to analyze the results, as the ruling Congress party emerged victorious in three out of the five states.

The votes come before national elections in the first half of 2009 that will pit a ruling Congress-led coalition against an opposition alliance led by the BJP.

Arun Jaitley, general secretary of BJP, said that the party would form a committee to analyse the outcome of the polls.

"The parliamentary board has decided that BJP president Rajnath Singh will form a committee in two or three days, which would analyse the results of the polls and submit its report to the board," said Jaitley.

Jaitley also said that the loss in Rajasthan was because of having a large number of party rebels in the fray.

"Our weakness has been large number of party rebels in the fray, which have affected the results," he added.

Meanwhile, conceding defeat in Rajasthan, outgoing Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia said that people have the right to decide their future.

"People always vote rightly. They know what they want," she said in Jaipur.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said in Raipur that it was the victory of governance.

"It is the victory of the policies being carried forward for the last five years in Chhattisgarh, be it policies related to villages, poor and farmers. We will try better implementation of those policies in the next five years. This is the mandate," said Raman.

Accepting defeat in the state, senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi said it would work as a constructive opposition.

"We accept the mandate and would want to mention this that now when we will sit in the opposition, will play a role of constructive opposition. All the victorious legislators of the Congress will cooperate the government for the development of the state," said Jogi in Raipur.

The outcome of the assembly polls has been a boost for Congress, which has suffered a string of state election defeats against the BJP in the last year amid rising inflation and perceived weak leadership.

It is also a setback for the BJP, which had hoped its policy of criticizing Congress for being soft on terrorism would reap political dividends.

Criticism of the government for security lapses appeared to have little impact on voters.

Congress criticised the BJP leaders for diverting the attention of voters to terrorism rather than on governance.

"BJP leaders immediately diverted to terrorism, and diverted the issues on inflation and also national security. They totally failed to click the issue but of course we are to make introspection with regards to the Madhya Pradesh and also Chhattisgarh. Even it was all poised to win," said Congress spokesperson Veerappa Moily in New Delhi. (ANI)

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