Election results 2011: Congress rejoice as party does well in era of scams

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: While Congress’ central leadership may be rejoicing at the thumping victory posted by their party in Assam, where it scored a hat-trick of wins, and wresting power from the LDF in Kerala, the mood at the party headquarters was far from being celebratory.

The Congress not only lost power in the Union territory of Puducherry, it could barely scrape through in Kerala. And the nature of the verdict in the state was such that it will have to put up with the whims of its alliance partners such as the Muslim League and Kerala Congress (Mani).

In Tamil Nadu, where it arm-twisted the DMK into ceding more seats to it after serving the “we’ll-go-it-alone” ultimatum, the Congress could win only six of the 63 seats it contested.

However, in West Bengal, the Congress has successfully doubled its tally in the state assembly by winning 41 seats. The party had won just 21 seats in 2006 assembly polls. This time the Congress has contested 65 seats of which they won 42. No doubt that the party’s success rate is very high.

Even though the Congress has gained strength in the state legislature, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee would not technically require any support from the Congress to form her government because her party has obtained absolute majority on its own by securing 184 seats in the 294-member state legislature.

Speaking to the media, Mamata Banerjee said she wanted both her election partners — Congress and SUCI — to join her government. “I want to run my government like a joint family where all the members will have a say on crucial issues,” Mamata told reporters at her Kalighat residence.

The principal ruling party at the Centre drew a blank in the by-elections held in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. While it conceded two seats to the BJP in Karnataka, there was more worrying news from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, where YS Jaganmohan Reddy pulled off a spectacular victory in the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, vanquishing state health minister DL Ravindra Reddy by a thumping margin of 5.12 lakh votes. Jagan’s mother YS Vijayalakshmi retained the Pulivendula assembly seat by a margin of 85,000 votes.

In Kerala, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, political observers said, gave a lifeline to the CPM-led LDF by harping on outgoing Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan’s age.

Besides its remarkable victory in Assam, the Congress must be rejoicing at the poor show put up by its main political rival, the BJP.

The party not only failed to open its account in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal, but also saw its tally drop to a mere five (from 10) in Assam.