Cong won't return in three poll-bound states: JD(S)

Imphal, Jan 19 (UNI) The Congress will be trounced in all the three states where elections are scheduled to be held, Mr Danish Ali, General Secretary of Janata Dal (Secular) has said.

''Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab, all Congress-ruled states, will go to polls next month but there is bleak chance of the Congress retaining power,'' he told UNI.

Mr Ali said a third front will emerge as a strong force and it will be formed without the Congress and the BJP. He flayed the Congress-led UPA government at the Center for its 'inability' to even condemn the killing of Saddam Hussien at Iraq.

''Saddam was an ally of India and Iraq was the first country after India to recognise Bangladesh after its liberation,'' he said, and added, Saddam had stood by India at every crisis, be it Kashmir or any other matter. ''But the Indian government simply described the killing as unfortunate,'' he rued.

The Congress government in the state had also failed to take up developmental work. The poor were getting poorer, he said. The growth rate in the north eastern region, specially Manipur, was around 3 to 4 per cent while that in the rest of the country was around seven per cent, he said.

The JD(S), which will field six candidates in Manipur, will work to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, he added. The national executive of the JD (S) will be held in Bangalore on January 28 and 29 and after the meeting party leader Deve Gowda will tour the three states, he further said.

UNI