Win-win for Congress, party ahead in 3 states

Mumbai/Chandigarh/Itanagar: The Congress came up trumps in the electoral sweepstakes on Thursday by retaining power in Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh but falling short of absolute majority in Haryana.

In the politically significant state of Maharashtra, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine was on its way to winning 146 seats, just above the magic figure of 145 in the 288-member assembly.

In the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, it was a virtual no-contest as the Congress won 40 of 60 seats.

It was the electoral showing in Haryana that dulled the Congress' victory edge with the opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) surging from nine seats in the 2005 assembly polls to 31 this time, leaving the Congress with 40 of the 90 assembly seats - still the largest single party but well short of the halfway mark.

It was not the emphatic victory that it had hoped for, but it was a victory nonetheless, said Congress leaders at the party’s national headquarters in New Delhi.

"The election results in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Prdesh have shown that the Congress is the only party working for the welfare of the people. For the BJP, it is not just down but almost out of the national political scene," said party general secretary V Narayanasamy.

"This is the mandate given by the people for the able leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and general secretary Rahul Gandhi," said Narayansamy, who is also minister of state for parliamentary affairs.

Left in disarray, BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi blamed the electronic voting machines (EVMs) for its defeat in state elections, saying they had become "electronic victory machines" for the Congress.

"It is a sponsored victory for the Congress," Naqvi told reporters.

It was left to BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad to concede defeat "with humility".

"The results are unexpected... We have to honestly ponder over our weaknesses and act fast," Prasad said.

As the stunned leaders of the BJP and the Shiv Sena combine went into a huddle in Sena chief Bal Thackeray's Mumbai home to discuss why they had managed to win only 90-odd seats, Prasad also blamed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)--an offshoot of the Shiv Sena started by Thackeray's estranged nephew Raj Thackeray that got 13 seats--for splitting their votes.

"In about 40-45 constituencies, the MNS factor favoured the Congress," he said.

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In a major upset, Shiv Sena's Leader of Opposition Ramdas Kadam lost to the NCP.

Raj Thackeray had an explanation.

"The wrong policies of the BJP-Shiv Sena failed them," he said, promising to play the role of a constructive opposition.

Congress Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who took charge of Maharashtra only after the November 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, said the Congress-NCP alliance would form a government again and his own party would be the single largest in the house.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar also said that the policies of the Congress at the centre had helped it win and said the decision of who would be the next chief minister would be the Congress'.

Amongst the major winners in Maharashtra were Rajendrasingh Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil and the children of union ministers Sushilkumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh--while Shinde's daughter Praniti won from Solapur City Central, Deshmukh's son Amit bagged the Latur seat.

From winners to losers, the Haryana election was embarrassing for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who called elections seven months ahead of schedule to cash in on the Congress victory in the May Lok Sabha polls when it won nine of the 10 seats.

Four Haryana ministers--Finance Minister Birender Singh, Transport Minister Mange Ram Gupta, Education Minister A C Chaudhary, and Cooperation Minister Meena Mandal--as well as state Congress president Phool Chand Mullana lost.

Though Hooda was confident about forming the government, INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala said the governor should invite the opposition parties first and give them an opportunity to form the government.

"Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda should immediately step down on moral grounds and the Congress should not stake its claim to form the government," former chief minister Chautala told reporters.

Swept in the unexpected INLD popularity wave, its alliance partner, the Akali Dal, made its debut in the Haryana assembly by winning the Kalanwali (reserved) seat.

In Arunachal Pradesh, however, there was no such ambiguity.

"This is a victory for good governance and stability, besides all round development that we were able to bring to the state," Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu told IANS after the party won 40 seats in the 60-member assembly. The BJP got two, the NCP six and the Trinamool Congress an impressive five.