UP election results to cost BJP dearly, says CM

Hamirpur, May 12 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the Uttar Pradesh assembly election results will adversely affect the BJP's chances in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha by-polls on June two.

Addressing a press conference here, he said since the BJP's stakes in the UP assembly elections were high, the results of the elections would affect its chances of wining the Hamirpur Parliamentary seat.

Mr Singh claimed that though the Congress party's seats in the state assembly elections had been reduced, but its vote percentage had gone up.

''This augurs well for the party in the parliamentary elections that are more than two years away,'' he said.

Referring to the issue of rise in prices of essential commodities, he said this would not be a major issue in the elections as the central and the state governments had already initiated steps to check their prices.

He said the Himachal Government also announced providing cheap rations to the people of the state for which the state government had earmarked a sum of Rs 100 crore, adding that the state was the first in the country to take concrete steps in this direction.

More funds would also be made available if the need arose, he asserted.

The Chief Minister said corruption would be the party's main plank in these elections as the by-polls were being held in the backdrop of BJP MP Suresh Chandel's suspension from the Lok Sabha following his involvement in the ''cash for query scam''.

UNI