Congress on Sunday voiced disappointment over the trends in the Assembly elections with the party doing poorly in Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
“We are disappointed,” party spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said when asked about the trends.
While he said the party still has hopes from Chhattisgarh, he dismissed suggestions that the performance of BJP in the Assembly polls would lead that party to a sweep in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
He recalled that BJP had won 2003 Assembly polls but lost badly in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Any celebration ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls will be premature. BJP refuses to learn from history,” he said.
Party leader Jayanthi Natarajan said, “Our congratulations to those who have won in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. People have given them a mandate. Our wishes go to them.”
She added: “In Delhi, we accept the verdict and will examine the results. We will find out what has gone wrong.”
Disagreeing with mr Surjewala’s statement, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Seetharaman said, “We really cannot extricate the two -- Assembly polls and Lok Sabha elections — completely.”
She said BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s campaign had impact in the Assembly polls.
The BJP, however, agreed that the performance of the state governments is largely the factor on the basis of which people will vote.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi dismissed suggestions that the trends showed that there was a Modi wave in the country.
Congress leader and Union Minister Shashi Tharoor said his party has very capable, experienced political leaders who are surely going to analyse in detail and find what is needed to take corrective measures. He said across the the country there were regional parties and areas where the BJP is not even a presence.
“So we should not be too hasty in suddenly seeing a sort of tsunami in favour of party that has done well today,” Mr Tharoor said.
