M A I N   N E W S

Cong loses Solapur, Ernakulam LS seats; blames local factors
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 29
The Congress today lost its strongholds of Solapur (Maharashtra) and Ernakulam (Kerala) in the bypoll to the two Lok Sabha seats even as the results to by-election in six Assembly seats in various states did not cause any major surprise.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to describe the results to the byelections as “trendsetter” for the coming polls in five states but the Congress said the outcome was no barometer of the mood of the people and the party’s defeat was caused by “local factors.”

The BJP wrested the Solapur Lok Sabha seat from the Congress in Maharashtra where Assembly polls are due next year. The party retained the Laban Assembly seat in Meghalaya. The ruling Biju Janata Dal again won the Birmaharajpur Assembly seat in Orissa. In Karnataka, the Congress retained the Hemgund Assembly seat while the Vemgal assembly seat was retained by the All India Progressive Janata Dal.

The All India Majlis-e-Itehad-ul- Muslimeen again emerged victorious in the Karwan Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh. The CPI-M nominee wrested the Uttarpara Assembly seat in West Bengal from the Trinamool Congress.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Sebastian Paul defeated Congress candidate M O John by 22,134 votes in the bypoll to the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat.

BJP’s Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil wrested the Solapur Lok Sabha seat from the Congress, defeating the party’s candidate Anandrao Devkate by a margin of 1,22,817 votes in the by-election caused by the resignation of Mr Sushilkumar Shinde who is now the Maharashtra Chief Minister. The BJP made a determined bid to wrest the Solapur seat which has been a Congress bastion.

Intra-party squabbles within the ruling Congress was a factor in the Congress losing the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat.

The approval of Chief Minister A.K. Antony’s candidate M.O. John for the seat by the party high command had antagonised his arch rival and senior party leader K. Karunakaran whose loyalists are believed to have worked against the official candidate. The Congress has constituted a three-member committee to recommend disciplinary action against the state leaders who had worked against the official nominee. In the last general election, George Eden of the Congress had won the seat by a margin of over 1,25,000 votes.

Congress chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy today the party had an inkling about the internal problem in Kerala. “We have appointed a committee to inquire into the activities and proclivities of various Congress leaders in connection with the byelection,” he said.

About Solapur, Mr Reddy said the state Chief Minister and the PCC chief had been asked to analyse the causes of the defeat and submit a report. He admitted that the party did not expect to lose Solapur and was “surprised” by the result. Mr Reddy declined to comment on the role of an NCP minister, who is brother of the victorious BJP-Shiv Sena candidate in Solapur.

Asked if the Chief Ministers of the two Congress-ruled states were being held accountable for the defeats, Mr Reddy said the CMs could not be held responsible for the result of every bypoll.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar claimed that the results were a clear indication of the complete rejection of the Congress by the people. “Besides it had exposed the “real image of the Congress, including its infighting, inept leadership and advocacy of pseudo-secularism.”