Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday described the results of the just-concluded Assembly elections in five States as “the last rites of the Congress as a political party in the country”. He said that the final rituals of these last rites would be performed in Punjab next year.
“Another major lesson from these elections is that people of the country are favouring parties which have a strong federal ideology. That is why in both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, regional parties have performed strongly and the trend is certain to continue in Punjab where the SAD is the strongest regional party in the country,” said Badal.
Badal said that these election results have also exploded myths of anti-incumbency as necessarily being a negative factor for parties which are in Government. “In Punjab, massive and all round development in rural and urban areas on the one hand and the poor-people friendly welfare policies and decisions on the other have resulted in a strong pro-incumbency wave in the State,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the opposition parties in Punjab are destined to remain in the opposition for a long time to come. “Their mindset is anti-people because they believe that the people have punished them and rewarded SAD alliance with mass support. This vengeful attitude towards the people is going to ruin both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),” he added.
“AAP has been reduced to a non-entity after their fluke in Delhi. They lost heavily in the lok Sabha poll and have never dared to put forward any claim on national scene after that. Their bubble in Punjab has also burst with a bang as was clear from their flop show in Chandigarh a few days ago. Their game is up here and SAD will march back to office to serve the people with a hat trick of victories,” said the Chief Minister.
BJP ‘virtually rejected' in 4 of 5 states: Capt
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh said his party "gracefully" accepts the people's verdict in the Assembly polls but took a dig at BJP's performance claiming it has been "virtually rejected" in four of the five states.
He wondered as what was BJP gloating about "as it had virtually been rejected in four out of the five states, while Congress had retained respectable position and vote share in all the states that went to the polls."
Asserting that the BJP may have won in Assam, Amarinder said it had yet to make any "significant presence" in the states like West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
BJP should be content being a "North-Western sectarian party which can never dream of having an all India presence like the Congress," the former Punjab chief minister said in a statement.
"Winning or not winning doesn't matter, what matters is participation and performance and the overall performance of our party has not been bad," Amarinder, who is also the Deputy leader of the party in the lok Sabha, said in a statement.
He pointed out that Congress had retained number two position in three states and formed the government in Puducherry.
"Congress may be down, but it is certainly not out," he said, adding, the party has emerged as the main
opposition in three states of West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.
Besides, Amarinder said, in Assam it was the "anti-incumbency" of 15 years.
poll results of 5 States would have direct impact on Punjab: Kamal Sharma
Expressing happiness over the election results of five states, Punjab BJP’s former president Kamal Sharma on Thursday said that the results would have an impact on Punjab elections as well.
“The way Congress has been decimated in the elections, it is writing on the wall that SAD-BJP alliance would score a hat-trick by registering victory in Punjab in the state assembly polls due for early next year,” said Sharma, immediately after the declaration of election results in which Congress has suffered a humiliating defeat.
Congratulating the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah, Sharma said that election results clearly indicate that the acceptance of saffron party has seen a very positive trend all across the
country. “At the same time, the results are a rubber stamp on the good governance of Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre,” he added.
Khattar hails BJP performance
Haryana CM Manohar lal Khattar said that the results of Assembly polls in five states, were proof of the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and people’s faith in the policies and programmes of the BJP.
The Chief Minister said that for the first time, the party’s representation has increased in north-eastern and southern states and the party alliance has got clear majority in Assam. Also, the party has, for the first time, registered its presence in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He credited the success of the BJP to its National President, Amit Shah and his team as they had carefully hand-picked the party candidates. He said that during his two-year regime, PM has given the country a new identity throughout the world with his style of working.
The CM congratulated the workers of the BJP for their untiring support. He also congratulated Union Sports Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, who is the BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate in Assam, and expressed hope that he would fulfill the aspirations of the people of Assam.