Elections 2014: Modi wave acted as 'catalyst': Rao Inderjit Singh

GURGAON: Former Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, who switched over to BJP from Congress before the polls, credits his victory in Gurgaon to the Modi wave saying it acted as a "catalyst".

"I was very much hopeful of winning but the credit goes to Narendra Modi. Though people in Gurgaon were fed up with the mis-governance by the Hooda government, the Modi wave definitely acted as a catalyst," Singh told PTI. Singh, who parted ways with Congress last year after serving the party for nearly 35 years, won the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket defeating Zakir Hussain of Indian National Lok Dal by a huge margin of 2,71,120 votes.

He secured 6,48,586 votes while Zakir got 3,77,466 votes. Except the first round of counting, in which Zakir managed to get lead, Singh maintained lead in all the rounds and defeated his nearest rival by a huge margin. Son of former Haryana Chief Minister late Rao Birendra Singh, Inderjit said, "I had decided not to contest on a Congress ticket one and a half year back. Even if I would have contested, I would have lost the elections."

Singh, who has been critical of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the past, said, "His governmment posed a very strong example of mis-governance in Gurgaon. He made some section of the city as the 'millennium city' while the old Gurgaon and other areas remain the same and undeveloped." The 63-year-old leader said he will continue raising the issue of land-grabbing by certain politicians.

Congress candidate and Badshapur MLA, Rao Dharampal got 1,36,289 votes coming third followed by Aam Aadmi Party candidate Yogendra Yadav with 79,721 and Bahujan Samaj Party's Dharampal Kota with 65,868.