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| Verdict: Congress upbeat, BJP beats dust | | Congress triumphant in Rajasthan, Delhi, Mizoram; Saffron solace: Chhatisgarh, MP; | | ET DESK
Jammu, Dec 8: Coming up trumps in the 'semi final' ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Monday delivered a shock defeat to BJP in Rajasthan and swept the polls in Delhi and Mizoram while the saffron party won convincingly to retain Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Scoring a hat-trick in Delhi and getting a two-third majority in Mizoram after a decade in wilderness, the party, however, fell five short of majority in the 200-member Assembly in Rajasthan.
With a number of party rebels and independents winning in Rajasthan, the party hopes to cobble a majority without any difficulty.
Ousting the Vasundhara Raje government, the Congress won 96 seats while the BJP got 78 and BSP six. Independents have won 14 seats while others account for six, including one of Samajwadi Party.
Creating history in the capital, the Congress led by 71-year-old Shiela Dikshit romped home with 42 seats in the 70-member Assembly, leaving BJP far behind at 23 seats with its hopes of wresting power after a decade dashed.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and all six of her cabinet colleagues emerged victorious. Opening its account, the BSP won two seats.
In Mizoram, the Congress wrested power from the Mizo National Front, winning 32 of the 40 seats.
The Assembly Elections brought cheer to the Congress which had faced debacles in 13 states after coming to power at the head of a coalition at the Centre in 2004.
The BJP, which hoped to cash in on the terror card especially after the November 26 Mumbai attacks and sweep in all the states barring Mizoram, retained its grip on Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on development plank, breaking the jinx of failing to get re-elected in any state other than Gujarat.
Staving off anti-incumbency factor, BJP secured a majority by winning 141 seats in the 230-member Assembly in Madhya Pradesh. In the 2003 Assembly elections, the party had secured 172 seats against Congress' 39 in the state.
The Congress this time won 51 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party four. Although Uma Bharti herself lost the polls, her Bharatiya Janashakti Party won three seats. The Samajwadi Party bagged only one seat while independents won in two.
Repeating the success in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, the saffron party led by chief minister Raman Singh bagged a majority with 50 seats, the same as it had secured in the 2003 elections.
Among the Congress stalwarts who lost were Mahendra Karma, leader of the opposition. The architect of the anti-naxal Salwa Judum movement suffered a shock defeat, dropping to third place behind the BJP and CPI candidates. PCC President Dhanendra Sahu also lost and resigned from his post.
In Rajasthan, in the 2003 elections the BJP had won 121 seats and the Congress 53. Six ministers and the Speaker in the Raje government were among those who lost this time in the desert state. The state Congress chief C P Joshi lost by one vote in Nathdwara while his predecessor P D Kalla was also defeated.
In Delhi, the Congress had won 48 seats and the BJP 19 in the last elections while in Mizoram the now routed MNF had won 21 seats and the Congress 12.
Putting up a brave face, BJP President Rajnath Singh said the election results were not a setback to the party which had lost one state -- Rajasthan -- to the Congress.
Singh did term as "surprising" the poll outcome in Delhi. However, his party colleague and in-charge of Delhi elections Arun Jaitley said the loss in the capital was a setback to the party.
Some of the BJP leaders felt a younger candidate could have countered the 'Shiela Dikshit effect' instead of 78-year-old Vijay Kumar Malhotra who was projected as the chief ministerial candidate.
"We went to the polls on the development ground with honesty and unity, and people have voted for that," Dikshit said.
Buoyed by the results, an elated Congress said there was "no stopping" the party from returning to power at the Centre in the Lok Sabha polls.
"There is no stopping the Congress. We are very confident of winning the next general elections," senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily told reporters.
Asked whether there was any chance of holding the Lok Sabha polls early, he said the election would be held as scheduled in April but "it is possible even in February".
The Congress, which was worried over the fallout of the November 26 Mumbai terror attacks, was relieved that it did not have much impact on the poll outcome.
AICC General Secretary and Congress's chief campaigner in Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot said that the voters had cast their votes against "Chief Minster Raje's rule of terror" and not the Mumbai attacks.
"The common people of Rajasthan were terrorised under Raje's rule. Now their mandate is to put her shadow of terror behind," he said. Gehlot, who won from Sardarpura seat, is the frontrunner in the race for chief ministership. |
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