Congress may be reduced to double digits in LS polls: Advani

NEW DELHI: BJP leader L K Advani today compared the defeat of Congress in the Assembly polls in four states to its "disastrous" loss in the post-Emergency elections and maintained that the ruling party may be reduced to double digits in the next Lok Sabha.

In his latest blog posting, Advani said, "I hold that the recent round of Assembly elections has been for the Congress Party the second disastrous defeat since the Emergency days, despite all attempts to buy over the voters."

Congress was defeated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi in the recent Assembly polls.

"In Rajasthan particularly, numerous election-eve decisions were taken to tempt the voters. In one of my earlier blogs relating to corruption, inflation, black money etc. I had remarked that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the country need not be surprised if the Congress score slumps to two digits," Advani said.

Noting that an important poll battle has just ended, Advani claimed that a crucial battle is to be waged in the coming year in which the fate of the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh government would be decided.

The BJP leader said Congress prospects in the Lok Sabha polls may be similar to the post-Emergency polls.

"Till before these last Assembly elections, I always used to recall the post-Emergency Lok Sabha elections of 1977 to caution the Congress Party how, in a vibrant democracy popular fury can become the most effective instrument for ushering into the political system the much needed attribute of accountability," he said.

BJP has targeted the Congress-led UPA government on issues of corruption, scams and demanded that efforts be made to bring Indian Black money stashed in tax havens abroad.

Advani had taken out a Jan Chetna Yatra in 2011 to highlight these issues.