Congress up for 'major upsets', claims BJP

Dehradun, Apr 14:

today claimed anti-incumbency wave against

was stronger than what it was during 1977 and Congress is set to witness "major upsets".

Four time MP and senior BJP leader Bachchi Singh Rawat claimed that Congress will lose seats which are considered to be its stronghold. "The anti-incumbency is reminiscent of 1977 when the Congress lost even its traditional pocketboroughs like Amethi and Raebareli. There is a similar situation this time but anti-incumbency is even stronger," Rawat told reporters here.

The feedback received from across the country suggests that Congress cannot afford to take for granted even seats it has been winning for years, he said.

"Skyrocketing prices under UPA-I and UPA-II, sluggish growth rate and unprecedented levels of corruption illustrated by the magnitude of scams which took place one after another in quick succession have left people disillusioned and the Congress has no answer to their questions," Rawat who is also the Chunav Sanchalan Samiti convenor of Pradesh BJP said.

Claiming that BJP had grown stronger after the projection of Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate, he said it had generated a wave in favour of the party. Besides benefiting from the anti-incumbency wave against the Congress, the BJP will also get positive votes of the youth and the intellectual class who find Modi's Gujarat model of development convincing, the BJP leader said.

When asked whether he had no differences with the party now, Rawat who had resigned recently from all party posts to protest the manner in which some party candidates had been given tickets, quipped, "It is war time, time to unite against a common enemy." "Moreover, I had some complaints regarding violation of party norms and they have been redressed," he said.

PTI