BJP eyeing more Cong seats after historic win in MP bypolls

Bhopal, Feb 18 (PTI) Buoyed by the historic success inthe Kukshi and Sonkatch Assembly bypolls, the ruling BJP inMadhya Pradesh has set its eyes on winning the 2013 Assemblyand 2014 Lok Sabha polls and is aiming to capture thoseCongress seats, which it lost the last time around.

"The victory in Kukshi (ST) and Sonkatch (SC) reservedseats has clearly given a message that these two communitieshave started drifting away from the Congress," State BJPpresident Prabhat Jha told PTI.

Following his maiden success after becoming the stateBJP President, Jha said his main aim now was to wrest thoseseats from the Congress, which the party had failed to win inthe last Assembly elections and where the main opposition hasa monopoly.

"This we can achieve by expanding and strengthening theparty network in these areas in a systematic manner," he said.

Winning Kukshi reserved seat represented by late JamunaDevi, who was the Leader of Opposition in the state Assemblyand Sonkatch, represented by the then Deputy Leader of theCongress Legislature Party, Sajjan Singh Verma is a majorachievement for the BJP, Jha said.

"This has given us enough fuel to work more vigorouslytowards the welfare of tribals and SCs in the state andassociating them with the party in a major way," he said.

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"We will also urge the party workers to enlighten these two groups about the large number of development schemeslaunched by the government for their welfare and organisespecial programmes for the beneficiaries of such schemes withthe BJP," Jha said.

"The victory has made us jubilant, but we will not becomecomplacent and work more vigorously for winning the hearts oftribals and SCs in the state, so that Congress gets totallymarginalised in the state in the 2013 Assembly and the 2014Lok Sabha polls," he said.

The BJP has won the Kukshi reserve seat after 21 yearsand the Sonkatch seat after 15 years with a substantial marginof 16,116 and 19,457 votes respectively.

Referring to the issue of farmers suicide raised by theCongress in vociferous manner in the state during the run upto the bypolls, the state BJP president said that the bypollresults have given a befitting reply to them.

"After the bypoll results, nothing is left for us tospeak on the issue of farmers as people have given a befittingreply to the Congress," said Jha, who was mobbed by jubilantparty workers after the results came out said.