Congress revises winning margin in Uttarakhand

Dehra Dun, Feb 23 (UNI) The Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, which had been claiming to win 40 seats in the recently-concluded State Assembly elections, has now reduced its figure to 36.

''Whatsoever, Congress is hopeful that it will form the government again,'' PCC Chief Harish Rawat told reporters here today. Ridiculing the media reports and analyses which project the BJP to be in an advantageous position, he said that ''sponsored projections'' do not reveal the real situation.

Though BJP opted for ideological publicity, the public mandate would be in Congress' favour for its silent approach,'' he said.

Result of any election depends totally on the public mandate, not on sponsored projections,'' Mr Rawat said, adding that the voters have proved such analyses wrong many times in the past and it would do the same this time too.

Mr Rawat maintained that there has been a centralisation of voters with secular and progressive thinking. ''I am hopeful that the voters have voted in favour of continuation of development in the state,'' he said, adding that the rallies of Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh had a bearing in the psychology of the people of Uttarakhand as they have assured more aid for the state. He maintained that Congress was in a winning position in Haridwar also.

Presently Congress does not have a single MLA in any of the nine constituencies in the district except for one independent who had been alloted a party ticket this time.

When asked about the party's plans to take support from other parties to form the government if required, Mr Rawat did not rule out taking support from Bahujan Samaj Party, the regional Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and other small parties.

UNI