SAD-BJP combine wrests power from Congress

Chandigarh, Feb 27: Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance today crossed the magical figure of 59 to oust Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's Congress government from power in Punjab.

Of the 110 assembly seats, results for which had been declared so far, the SAD-BJP alliance had already bagged 61 seats while the Congress got 44 and rest of the 5 went to others.

SAD supremo Parkash Singh Badal, who is set to take reigns of the government in Punjab for the fourth time, profusely thanked the voters who had come out in record 76 per cent to exercise their frachise inspite of continuous showers.

''It was popular verdict against the autocratic rule of Capt Singh and not just an anti-incumbency vote,'' said the octagenarian SAD patriarch whose party had made corruption, price hike and mis-rule of Congress its poll plank.

Incidently since 1967, no party has won the election twice in a row in Punjab. With return of SAD-BJP combine to power, Capt Amarindar Singh's dream to break the four-decade ''anti-incumbency jinx'' has been dashed.

SAD alliance partner, Bharatiya Janata Party, also performed extremely well in the Punjab polls, winning 19 of the 23 seats it contested. In the last assembly polls they had won only two seats.

Cap Amarinder Singh, while conceding defeat, has submitted his resignation to Punjab Governor Gen (Retd) S F Rodrigues. He has been asked by the Governor to continue in the office till the formation of the new government.

Saying that he was ''disappointed'' by the results, Capt Singh said Congressmen needed to introspect about the reasons of the defeat, which he said came despite his government ''undertaking a number of projects for the development of Punjab.'' ''Development and prosperity'' were the poll slogans for the Congress in the fierce yet by and large peaceful campaign.

Capt Singh also said if the Congress High Command wanted him to be the leader of the Opposition, he would accept the role and lead the party as ''constructive opposition.'' The polls were held in 116 of the 117 assembly seats in the state. The polls will be held in Beas Constituency, where it were postponed due to violence during the campaign, on March 11.

UNI