SHILLONG: Congress on Tuesday received a shot in the arm ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections after the party won in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and seemed well placed to form the government in Madhya Pradesh, where results threw up a hung House, as well.
The results have evoked different reactions from different political parties in the state with Congress even claiming that the NPP-led MDA Government will collapse soon.
Congress spokesperson and senior leader Zenith Sangma while talking to The Shillong Times about the verdict, said that the results were a reflection of the mood of the people in the country against the anti- agenda of the BJP
He also said that the BJP, which was very strong in north India,would lose badly in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the same fate awaits the saffron party in neighbouring Assam.
Talking about Meghalaya, he said that in the last Assembly elections, none of the parties got a clear mandate and as Congress was ruling the state for a long time, the regional parties opted to work with NPP for a change.
” But then this Government is not going to last and only time will tell when it will collapse,” Sangma said.
On the other hand, NPP, which failed to open its account in Mizoram, is happy for the fact that Congress is now finally wiped out of North East, which will strengthen the non-Congress parties in the region.
NPP state president WR Kharlukhi claimed that the Lok Sabha elections will be different as Narendra Modi will be pitted against Rahul Gandhi.
When asked about the threat to the Government, he said, ” We don’t have to worry as long as Mukul Sangma is their leader.”
The BJP state president, Shibun Lyngdoh, admitted that there may have been an anti-incumbency factor since the party was ruling these states for a long time even as he added that the state governments did not perform well and hence the results were not good.
” Lok Sabha elections are different from Assembly elections,” he said while denying any threat to the state Government in the near future.
