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BJP sees a trendsetter

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 29. The Bharatiya Janata Party sees the defeat of Congress candidates in two Lok Sabha bypolls, Ernakulum in Kerala and Solapur in Maharashtra, as a "trendsetter'' for Assembly polls in five States later this year.

The BJP spokesperson, Prakash Javadekar, said: "The real image of the Congress, including its infighting, inept leadership and advocacy of pseudo-secularism, now stands thoroughly exposed''.

The BJP had indeed reasons to be happy with the results — in Ernakulum, the infighting between the top two Congress leaders was out in the open resulting in the Left candidate sailing through, and in Solapur the BJP candidate won the seat defeating the Congress. The BJP had supported a rebel of the CPI(M), who stood as an independent, in this election.

Mr. Javadekar pointed out today that the BJP's Sholapur victory was particularly significant as it was a pointer to the unpopularity of the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, whose constituency it was. The Congress won this seat 12 times in 13 Lok Sabha elections, and only in 1996 did the BJP win this seat.

The party spokesperson said, "defeat of the Shinde Government, whenever polls are held to the Assembly, was the clearly decipherable writing on the wall.''

In Karnataka Assembly elections, the Congress' margin of victory had reduced by roughly 20,000 in Hungud, Mr. Javadekar noted, while in Yemgul the A.P. Janata Dal had retained the seat, but the Congress vote support had shrunk.

In Orissa, the BJP was happy that its alliance partner, the Biju Janata Dal, won the Bir Maharajpur Assembly segment, while in Meghalaya the BJP itself won the Laban seat.

In Andhra Pradesh, again, there was no consolation for the Congress in the Karwan Assembly segment where the Muslim Majlis retained the seat.

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