The Congress suffered major blows on Tuesday and was set to lose power in the states of Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Updated at 4: 36 pm
NEW DELHI: The Congress party, already under pressure for being unable to nab fugitive Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, suffered major blows on Tuesday and was set to lose power in the states of Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Tens of thousands of Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took to the streets dancing and shouting slogans all over Punjab, where an expected neck and neck electoral battle of February 13 turned out to be a one-sided affair.
Similar celebrations also erupted in Uttarakhand as well as at the BJP national headquarters in New Delhi, after a fairly long time.
The BJP inched towards crossing the half way mark in the 70-member legislature in Uttarakahand. In both places the Congress had been in power and had hoped to retain power at least in Punjab.
Overjoyed opposition leaders asserted that the outcome, particularly in Punjab and Uttarakhand, reflected poorly on the Congress nationally and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"It is a clearly setback for the Congress and the prime minister's economic policies," a beaming BJP president Rajnath Singh said in parliament, where another day of bedlam over the arrest and bailing of Quattrochchi, the main accused in the Bofors gun payoff scandal, in Argentina led to the adjournment of both houses.
Also exulting was the Samajwadi Party, which has withdrawn its legislative backing to the Manmohan Singh government and which faces an acid electoral test in Uttar Pradesh next month. "Since Manmohan Singh became the prime minister, the Congress has not won a single election," said party MP Mohan Singh.
Congress leaders were on the defensive everywhere barring Manipur, where counting of votes that began in all three states at 8 am indicated that the country's oldest party could end up coming on top of a splintered house.
In Punjab, where the Congress had trounced the Akali-BJP alliance only five years ago, the revenge was sweet and Parkash Singh Badal, the octogenarian Akali leader and the most prominent political face in the state, was expected to take charge, succeeding a badly disappointed Amarinder Singh of Congress.
"My father will be the new chief minister," declared his son and Akali Dal MP Sukhbir Singh Badal, as supporters thronged the Badal residence in the heart of Chandigarh while loyalists broke out in spontaneous bhangra all over the farm rich state.
Asked what he hoped to do for Punjab in another stint as chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal remarked, "Good luck to Punjab!"
Cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu of BJP also took a comfortable lead over his rival and Punjab Finance Minister Surinder Singla of the Congress from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, which too saw a by-election.
In Uttarakhand, the BJP overcame early jitters to forge a definitive lead as votes began to be counted, leaving the Congress far behind. Amid intense speculation that BJP's BC Khanduri was set to become the new chief minister, Rajnath Singh said a decision was yet to be taken who should get the baton.
Rajnath Singh, for whom these were the first major electoral battles as party president, also predicted that the Samajwadi Party would similarly be ousted in Uttar Pradesh, which faces elections spared over March and April.
Although the Congress insisted that defeats in Punjab and Uttarakhand were no reflection on the national government, party spokeswoman Jayanti Natarajan said, "We will try to understand why we lost in Punjab and draw lessons."
The Congress headquarters wore a deserted look. The few party officials who were present did not want to talk - at least to the cameras.
Although the Congress has forged ahead in Manipur, government formation is not going to be an easy task. The Manipur assembly is expected to be splintered badly, with unwieldy smaller groups and independents garnering a large number of seats.
DEHRA DUN: BJP on Monday took an early lead over the ruling Congress in Uttarakhand assembly elections by moving ahead in 23 out of the 49 seats.
As the counting of votes began this morning in the state, where the polls were held in 69 seats on February 21, Congress was ahead in 14 seats with Speaker Yashpal Arya (Cong) winning from Mukteshwar constituency, defeating Shrichandra Arya of BJP by 11,000 votes.
BSP was leading in five seats while Uttarkhand Kranti Dal (UKD) was ahead in four seats.
Samajwadi Party was also leading from Ramnagar seat and independents were ahead in two seats.
BJP state President Bhagat Singh Koshiyari said the trends were suggesting that his party would get majority in the 70-member House.
Koshiyari said the people have rejected the ruling Congress due to its 'anti-Uttarakhand policies'.
Meanwhile, Information Minister and number two in the Congress government, Indira Hridayesh, was trailing in Haldwani seat.
Elections were held in 69 seats in the state as polling to Bajpur assembly seat was countermanded following the death of Congress candidate Janak Raj Sharma.
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