"Hisar verdict not a vote against government"

Pretoria : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing the 5th IBSA Summit in Pretoria on Tuesday. PTI Photo by Vijay Kumar Joshi (PTI10_18_2011_000040A)

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday rejected claims that the Congress' defeat in the Hisar Lok Sabha by-election was a referendum on his government's performance or of the party.

“One by-election in a particular part of the country cannot be considered a referendum on the performance of my government or of the Congress party,” he told journalists here while replying to a question.

Opposition parties have called Monday's by-election result in which the Congress suffered a blow as a vote against the government in the context of various scandals, and even a referendum against the government on corruption.