Congress wins Rajnandgaon, BJP blames it on 'Duryodhan'

Rajnandgaon, Apr 1 (UNI) The Congress today wrested the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat from the ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh when its candidate Mr Devavrat Singh won the byelection by a margin of 51,614 votes.

The BJP blamed the 'operation Duryodhan' factor for the party's defeat in the byelection.

Mr Devavrat Singh secured 3,45,009 votes while his nearest BJP rival Leelaram Bhojwani polled 2,93,395 votes in the 15-cornered contest. Mr Balkrishna Agrawal (BSP) polled 24,842 votes while an Independent bagged 23,295 votes.

Reacting to the poll outcome, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh blamed the 'operation Duryodhan' factor for his party candidate's defeat saying the results were alonfg the same lines in such constituencies.

''All the parties, whose MPs were expelled from Parliament following their involvement in the cash-for-query scandal, have lost elections in their respective constituencies. Rajnandgaon is no exception,'' he said, talking to newspersons at his residence soon after the declaration of result.

The Congress nominee had secured lead in six out of eight assembly segments, including in Dongergaon assembly constituency, represented by Dr Singh in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly.

Besides, BJP could not secure lead in Dr Singh's home town Kawardha.

BJP, however, was ahead of Congress in Rajnandgaon and Dongargarh assembly segments as Mr Bhojwani got a lead of about 6000 votes and more than 600 votes respectively.

This is the second major defeat of the BJP in the last four months as it had lost the Kota assembly byelection in December when Mrs Renu Jogi, wife of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, won the seat by a margin of more than 23,000 votes.

BJP candidate Bhupendra Singh could lead only in one out of the 187 polling stations in Kota assembly segment.

Meanwhile Mr Jogi, who spearheaded the Congress campaign in Rajnandgaon, said the BJP's defeat was the result of the inefficiency and non-governance of the more than three-year-old Dr Raman Singh government.

''We are not demanding Dr Singh's resignation. We want him to continue till the next elections so the people could throw out the BJP government,'' he added.

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