The State Congress on Tuesday claimed that it would better its 2009 performance of lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh by winning over 16 seats of the total 29.
Chairman of the minority department of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee Mohammed Saleem while talking to media persons here on Tuesday said, "The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got a good share of the minority vote in the assembly elections held last year in the state due to the secular credentials of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate by the saffron party has frightened the minority and they have been consolidated against Modi and have decided to vote in favour of the Congress."
Saleem claimed that with minority support back with the Congress, the grand old party has also succeeded in winning back the tribals and dalits to its fold. “During the past one month I have extensively toured the state and observed that there is no Modi wave in the State, instead there is an undercurrent in favour of the Congress and we would better our 2009 lok Sabha performance in the state by winning over 16 seats in the State,” he added.
He said that the consolidated minority vote besides tribal and dalit support to the Congress in the state would play an important role in strengthening the party tally in the State.
The senior Congress leader said, "we have successfully won back our lost vote bank including the minority, dalits and tribals and we are hopeful that by the consolidation of this we would strengthen our position in the state."
Notably, the minority has a sizeable presence in about a dozen of the total 29 constituencies of the state. Observers say that minority vote consolidation may prove to be the game-changer in the state.