Another Congress candidate blames Virbhadra for his defeat

Hamirpur, Jan 2 (UNI) The Congress is turning out to be a bad loser with yet another party candidate, who lost from his constituency in the recently concluded Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, blaming former chief minister Virbhadra Singh for his defeat.

Congress' official candidate from Mewa constituency in Hamirpur district, Suresh Kumar, in a release here, blamed Mr Singh for terming the rebel candidate, Prem Kaushal, as one of his trusted lieutenants in his public meeting at Dhamrola.

Besides, the former chief minister also held a secret meeting with the party's rebel candidate in a rest house at Bhota and this went against him in the elections, he said.

Mr Kumar was defeated by senior BJP leader Ishwar Dass Dhiman, who had represented this constituency five time in a row since 1990, while the rebel candidate finished third after polling 6,836 votes.

''I am indebted to the people of the constituency for handing me a respectable 14,046 votes in the face of winds of change blowing in the BJP's chief ministerial candidate's home district and former chief minister campaigning in favour of the rebel candidate,'' he added.

The Congress leader said he would continue to serve the people of the constituency and would submit a detailed report on his loss to the party high command after making a detailed study of the reasons of his defeat at the hustling.

He is the third leader after Vidya Zar (Nadaunta) and Prakash Chand Karad (Arki) to blame the senior Congress leader for their defeat in the assembly elections, which propelled the BJP to power in the state with 41 assembly seats as against Congress' 23.

UNI AS PS BK1439