Narendra Modi wave on decline: Congress leader Digvijay Singh

BANGALORE: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today said the outcome of Assembly by-polls had shown that the "so called" (Narendra) Modi wave was on the decline and complimented Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD's Lalu Prasad for coming together to defeat "communal forces".

"...I think people have realised that they have been conned by the so called Gujarat model of development and the personality of Modi, who has done nothing in the last 70 days except to inaugurate and take credit of all the projects which the UPA government had executed," Singh told reporters here.

He said people had voted in favour of Congress for good work of Karnataka government headed by Siddaramaiah and the party led by G Parameshwara.

"I think it is a very positive thing," said Singh, who is in charge of party affairs in the state.

"The so called Modi wave is now on the decline, because in the bypolls UPA has got the clear majority," he said.

Of the three seats in Karnataka, Congress retained Chikkodi-Sadalga and wrested Bellary Rural from BJP, which managed to save the Shikaripura seat. In Bihar, BJP bagged four seats as against six by the JDU-RJD-Congress alliance.

To a question on Bihar results, Singh said, "Politics is based on ideology. Today in the country, we have the ideology of violence, hate and communalism which BJP represents, and we have secular forces who have always believed in communal harmony, who are believers of the doctrines of Mahatma Gandhi, who believe in the Nehruvian socialist secular democratic ideology. Therefore it is the clear cut divide between the two."

"Therefore I would like to congratulate Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav for having come together to defeat these communal forces," he added.