Punjab election: Congress' Amarinder Singh gracefully accepts defeat responsibility

CHANDIGARH: There’s a refined irony in this. Just before hitting the election trail in Punjab, Congress’s CM hopeful, Captain Amarinder Singh, wrote a book on Maharaja Ranjit Singh called, 'The Last Sunset' . Little would he have known that by the end of the polls, he would be riding into his own political sunset.

“This is probably my last election. I will be 70 next week and in five years, 75. That's the time one should hang one's boots,” said the Punjab Congress chief, putting up a brave front while accepting Tuesday's debacle . He gracefully accepted the responsibility for the party's defeat , saying he was given a free hand by the high command in choosing candidates and running the campaign.

Barely 24 hours before the results , the captain was confabulating with the Punjab governor, Shivraj Patil, probably pitching himself as the winner. But his party managed just 46 seats, way short of the claims of 70 plus he had made. Congress's tally being two up from its 2007 figure must hardly come as a balm to the bruised soldier. By Tuesday evening, SAD had surged ahead with 56 seats of its own and 12 of ally, BJP.

The swagger in the captain's steps in the run-up to the polls was all gone by Tuesday afternoon . Another blow came in the form of his son Raninder losing from Samana. His own victory in Patiala (urban) was small consolation. The fact that Amarinder was thrust on the scene quite late might have something to do with the defeat. He was made Punjab Pradesh Congress president just a year-and-a-half before the elections . When Amarinder took up the reins, his detractors kept snapping at his heels and challenged his claim to the CM's chair despite party general secretary Rahul Gandhi's declaration of support to him.

Analysts say the captain may have also been done in by two major factors: complacency , believing that SAD won't be able to buck anti-incumbency , and underestimating the opponent's organizational skills. His rhetoric, that 'there was no development on the ground', did not wash.