Severe setback for BJP in MP

BHOPAL, Nov 29 (PTI) - In a severe setback to the BJP, the Congress today secured an absolute majority in the 320-member state Assembly belying pre-poll surveys and exit polls.

Proving that there was no anti-incumbency wave in the state against the Digvijay Singh government, the party bagged 173 seats, just one short of its strength in the 1993 elections.

Though the BJP improved its tally of 117 in 1993 to 120 this time, it failed to repeat its performance in the last Lok Sabha elections when it led in 222 Assembly segments to bag 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats.

A notable factor in the current elections was the total rejection by the electorate of Left parties which had fielded 45 candidates. In the dissolved House they had three members — two CPI and one CPM.

Likewise, the Samata Party which contested in 41 seats bit the dust. The Janata Dal (JD) too appeared to have lost its moorings in the state as none of its 144 candidates could romp home. In the last assembly the JD had four members.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which entered into a pre-poll "strategic understanding" with the Congress, retained its previous tally of 11 to emerge as the third largest party in the state. The BSP retained six seats while wresting three from Congress and two from the BJP.

The Samajwadi Party won four seats, three at the cost of the Congress and one of the BJP.

The Congress gained in almost all regions of the state, even in the Chhatisgarh region where the BJP’s promise to accord statehood failed to get translated into votes in its favour.

In the region, covering 90 seats, the Congress bagged 48 followed by the BJP’s 35 and the BSP’s three.

The region is considered to be a favourite hunting ground for the Congress and this time senior party leaders repeatedly reminded the voters that the Congress always championed the cause of tribesmen and fought for statehood over the years.

However, on the question of division of Madhya Pradesh, political observers doubt whether the Vajpayee government at the Centre will introduce a Bill in Parliament as it would mean handing over a new state to the Congress on a platter as it is in majority in the region.

The Congress maintained its supremacy in the state’s other regions of Mahakoshal, Vindhyachal and Madhya Bharat while in old Bhopal the party trailed behind the BJP.

Prominent among those who emerged victorious this time are Chief Minister Digvijay Singh who won by the largest margin of over 54,000 votes in Raghogarh, his Deputy Subhash Yadav (Kasrawad), state Congress chief Urmila Singh (Ghansaur) former Gujarat Governor K P Singh (Sohagpur), former Chief Ministers S C Shukla (Congress) and Sunderlal Patwa (BJP) from Rajim and Bhojpur, respectively. Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Vikram Verma (BJP), however, lost.

No threat to BJP govt: Fernandes

CHENNAI, Nov 29 (PTI) — The results of assembly elections in four states would have no impact on the BJP-led government at the Centre, Defence Minister and convener of the coordination panel of the ruling coalition, George Fernandes said today.

He told reporters at the airport here that the results had many lessons to offer, including the need for a transparent government and anticipation of adverse situations, though it meant different things to different people.

"For a coalition government, the question is whether it is going to affect it, and I would say no", Mr Fernandes, who arrived on a special aircraft along with his Cabinet colleagues to attend a wedding, said.

Asked if this meant that all the coalition partners were totally behind the BJP, Mr Fernandes said the coalition was one formed by all the partners. "It is not as if BJP has set it up and others are giving it a push".

Mr Fernandes said, "It is our government in which all partners have a vested interest or stake." The coalition’s national agenda had promised to pull the country out of "the mess it was in for so many years."

He said the results would motivate the government to rectify the problems, and added the first lesson which had been learnt was that government had to be more effective.

It should anticipate a situation and take necessary action to ensure that "decisions taken or not taken" did not hurt the community.

Another major lesson, he said, was that "we have to quickly create a more transparent government so that people would know ‘what is right and what is wrong, why certain things happen and why they don’t. We have to run a government which responds to situations", he said.

"Indeed it was onions and potatoes", he said when asked to identify the causes for the BJP’s poll debacle.