Cong Has Accepted Defeat, say BJP and Left
Reacting to the gestures made by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to woo NDA partners TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, the BJP has said that the Congress has accepted its defeat in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
BJP spokespersons Balbir Punj said that there is no need to “read between the lines to come to the conclusion that Rahul Gandhi has conceded defeat in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh”.
“He has tried to reach out to Nitish Kumar and Naidu to make up for the complete rout of his party in these two states,” he said.
During a press conference earlier in the day, Gandhi had praised Naidu and Kumar, saying, “I respect Naidu. He has done a good job…may be he focused on Hyderabad. I am not saying (only we have leaders). There are leaders who are in the opposition. Mr Nitish for example.”
Another BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that Gandhi’s statement “vindicates BJP stand that UPA will emerge as a political debris post-elections, scavenging for survival”.
In the meanwhile, the Left too has said that Gandhi’s attempt to woo the Left parties is “an admission of their defeat” in the elections. Communists are of the view that it would throw up a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative coalition,
“This is an admission that Congress is losing. It is an admission of their own defeat,” party National Secretary D Raja said.
He stressed that the Left parties had “serious differences with Congress on several issues and the Indo-US nuclear deal was only one of them”
He also said that it did not seem that the Congress is doing any introspection as to why this relationship (with Left) was destroyed. It continues to pursue the same neo-liberal policies, added.
