In stunning reverses in the Assembly elections, Congress was today voted out of power by the Akali Dal-BJP combine in Punjab and by the saffron party in Uttarakhand, while it emerged as the single largest party in a hung verdict in Manipur but is all set to retain power in a coalition there, reports.
While the national Opposition BJP saw the results as the beginning of the end of the Congress at the Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dismissed suggestions that the results were a referendum on his government, saying it would have no impact on the UPA coalition.
Exploiting a severe anti-incumbency wave topped by the price spiral, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance won a clear majority in the 117-member Assembly, securing 60 of the 107 seats declared so far. Akali Dal alone won 42 seats with lead in five others while its ally BJP bagged 18, 13 more than last time and led in an other constituency.
Five seats went to independents while parties like CPi, CPi(M), splinter Akali groups and the BSP drew a blank.
Eighty-year-old warhorse and SAD chief Prakash Singh Badal, who won from Lambi, is also set to become the Chief Minister for a fourth term while incumbent Chief Minister Amarinder Singh submitted his resignation after his party’s defeat. Amarinder won from Patiala town.
in the hill State of Uttarakhand, BJP fell short of majority in the 70-member Assembly by just one seat but with support from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, which bagged three seats, and some of the three independents, it is in a position to form the government.
While Badal becoming Punjab Chief Minister was a long-settled issue, the race for the top post in Uttarakhand has begun in right earnest between former Union Minister BC Khanduri and former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal can give give its support to BJP to form the government, UKD spokesman Shivanand Chamoli said.
Khanduri did not contest the polls while Koshiyari won from Kapkot. The BJP Parliamentary Board, which met in Delhi to discuss the choice of a new Chief Minister in Uttarakhand, could not come to a decision. it decided to send general secretaries Gopinath Munde and OP Mathur to Dehradun as central observers to oversee the election of the Chief Minister by the newly-elected MLAs.
Top Congress leaders, including information Minister indira Hridayesh, Transport Minister Hira Singh Bist, Education Minister Narendra Singh Bhandari and Forest Minister Nav Prabhat bit the dust at the hustings.
Besides Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, key Congress winners in Punjab include his deputy Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Lehra) and her brother Kuldeep Bhattal (Dhanoula).
However, a number of Congress big guns like Punjab Congress president Shamsher Singh Dullo (Khanna) and a number of ministers and senior party leaders lost the poll.
Prominent SAD losers include former SGPC president Jagir Kaur and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal’s son inder iqbal Singh Atwal. Among BJP winners are - Manoranjan Kalia (Jalandhar Central), former Deputy Speaker Satpal Gosain (Ludhiana East) and Raj Khurana (Rajpura), who recently resigned from Congress and joined the saffron party.
Posted By Staff Reporter
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