Inflation costs Congress Punjab and Uttarakhand

New Delhi, Feb 27 (UNI) The Congress paid a heavy price in the assembly polls as a wave against inflation and incumbency swept away the party in Punjab and Uttarakhand today, marking a further erosion in the grand old party's base in the Hindi-speaking belt.

As results of the recently concluded assembly elections in three states poured in, Manipur could prove to be the silver lining for the beleaguered party, with the Congress stealing a lead in a closely-fought contest.

Heading for a landslide victory in the 117-member Punjab assembly, a buoyant BJP-SAD combine, led by Prakash Singh Badal, was all set to oust the Amarinder Singh-led Congress regime from the state. The anti-incumbency jinx continued in Punjab where no ruling party has managed to retain power since 1972.

On a comeback trail in the fledgling state of Uttarakhand, witnessing its second assembly election, the BJP was inching towards power in the 70-member House, bagging 20 seats.

Senior BJP leader Maj Gen (retd) BC Khanduri, who was head of the election affairs in Uttarakhand, ascribed his party's good performance in the state to ''total absence of governance and prevalence of rampant corruption during the Congress rule''.

''The results are not unexpected going by the mood of the people gauged during the electioneering in the hill state,'' he said.

The resurgent SAD-BJP alliance had bagged 32 seats and was leading in 32 in Punjab, while the Congress won 22 constituencies and was ahead in 23 segments.

Of the 18 seats declared in Manipur till now, the Congress has six in its kitty, while the RJD and the NCP were giving a hot chase bagging three each, and the Manipur People's Party (MPP) and the CPI two each and the National People's Party (NPP) and the Independents one each.

Among the prominent winners in Punjab were Chief Minister Amarinder Singh(Congress), SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal(Congress) while those defeated included former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur.

Heavyweight winners in Uttarakhand include former chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (BJP), former Speaker Prakash Pant (BJP) and Speaker in the outgoing Assembly Yashpal Arya (Congress).

Indira Hridayesh, a minister in the N D Tewari cabinet, lost to the BJP's Bansi Dhar Bhagat in Haldwani after a see-saw contest.

The outcome of the assembly polls spells bad news for the Congress which is not only finding the going tough in grappling with inflation but also on the Ottavio Quattrocchi issue.

With the elections in Uttar Pradesh round the corner, political analysts say the Congress will have to pull up its socks and stitch alliances if it is serious about putting up a fight in the politically important northern state.

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