NEW DELHI: Non-Congress political parties reacted predictably to the assembly elections results in the three states with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding that resignation of the Central government and the Janata Dal calling for mid-term polls. Congress leaders, under pressure after the humiliating defeat in Gujarat and Maharashtra, were cautious in their estimate declining to comment until final results are out.
“We are waiting for the full results, then only we will react, but the early trends are not discouraging,” the Congress (1) general secretary, Janardhan Poojary, said.
Expressing his dismay over the reverses for the party in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Poojary said that communal forces had triumphed in the states.
The BJP said the results in Gujarat and Maharashtra represented a vote against Congress and demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister say. ing that he had “no political or moral authority to continue in office.”
The BJP described the results as “a positive vote for nationalism represented by the BJP.”
The vote reflected the people’s sentiments against the ruling parties, the JD said adding that it will support neither the Congress nor the BJP Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra and demanded mid-term elections. The Communist Party (Marxist) said the results were a verdict, against the “anti-people policies of the government” but felt the emergence of the BJP and Shiv Sena was a “dangerous phenomenon which could endanger national unity.”
On the defeat of the Janata Dal in Orissa, the party said there was no difference between the economic policies of the Congress and the JD leader Biju Patnaik and the people rejected the JD government.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) said the results would be the deciding factors for any mid-term general elections in the country.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 17, 1995
