Division of secular votes cost Cong dear; Cong spokesman

Mumbai, Feb 3 (UNI) Division of secular votes cost the Congress dearly in the elections to ten municipal corporations, including Mumbai, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) spokesman Anant Gadgil today said.

''Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray also subtly played his Marathi Manoos card, though the party had done nothing for the Marathi speaking people,'' Mr Gadgil told UNI.

Talking about the Congress debacle in Pune, Mr Gadgil, who hails from the city, without taking the name of Lok Sabha member Suresh Kalmadi, said people of Pune had not voted against the Congress but against ''the style of functioning of one individual''.

The Congress has failed in Pune because of the original congressmen were sidelined in the entire election procedure in the city and hence the workers had got the feeling of dejection.

Mr Gadgil said the party's performance in the polls was the worst ever debacle suffered. ''Congress candidates lost deposits and also ended up in the fourth and fifth positions. Unfortunately, my repeated warnings to state and central party leaders were not taken seriously,''he added.

Mr Gadgil said the present situation of the Congress was a far cry since his father's (former I&B minister and veteran congressman Vithalrao Gadgil who represented Pune for several years in the Lok Sabha) time, when the congress had enjoyed 2/3 rd majority in the city's civic body as well as in the state assembly.

UNI