Senior BJP leader lK Advani on Tuesday claimed that the Congress could be staring at the ‘second disastrous defeat’ since the Emergency days and reiterated it would be no surprise if the ruling party is reduced to double-digit figures in the next lok Sabha polls.
Advani’s blog was inspired by the BJP’s victory in recent assembly elections wherein the Congress was almost routed. “I hold that the recent round of Assembly elections has been for the Congress Party the second disastrous defeat since the Emergency days, despite all attempts to buy over the voters. In Rajasthan particularly, numerous election-eve decisions were taken to tempt the voters. In one of my earlier blogs relating to corruption, inflation, black money etc. I had remarked that in the 2014 lok Sabha polls, the country need not be surprised if the Congress score slumps to two digits,” Advani wrote in his blog on Tuesday.
He further wrote, “In that election, out of the 236 lok Sabha seats in the northern States, the Congress Party secured only two seats, one in Rajasthan and the second in MP. In UP, the Prime Minister of the country, Indira Gandhi herself was defeated in the elections.” The Congress was ousted from power for the first time in the 1977 lok Sabha elections held after Emergency was revoked and its tally touched an all-time low of 114 seats in the 1999 national election.
The BJP leader said Congress prospects in the lok Sabha polls may be similar to the post-Emergency polls. “Till before these last Assembly elections, I always used to recall the post-Emergency lok Sabha elections of 1977 to caution the Congress Party how, in a vibrant democracy popular fury can become the most effective instrument for ushering into the political system the much needed attribute of accountability,” he said.
BJP has targeted the Congress-led UPA Government on issues of corruption, scams and demanded that efforts be made to bring Indian black money stashed in tax havens abroad. Advani had taken out a Jan Chetna Yatra in 2011 to highlight these issues.