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Credit should go to Sonia: Gehlot

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MAY 13. The former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, has hailed the Congress victory as the "triumph of the forces of secularism'' in the country. The credit for the good performance of the party should go to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and the timely electoral alliances she could make with other like-minded parties, he said.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party and the partners in the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance by now have realized that there was no real feel good or India Shining as they had been propagating. This world of make belief was confined to them only and not to the common man,'' Mr.Gehlot said.

As for the party's poor performance in Rajasthan, Mr.Gehlot said the rejection of the Congress by the public for the second time in a period of five months was a matter of serious concern. "We need to sit and look into the details,'' he said.

He felt the latest thrust by political parties on caste equations was against the larger interest of the public. He also refused to give any credit to the present BJP Government in the State for the party's improved tally in Rajasthan. "It is not due to the performance of the BJP Government in the State. It has been their(BJP's) election management in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which fetched them good results. However, they could not manage the rest of the country the same way and the results went against BJP and NDA,'' he pointed out.

Mr.Gehlot was of the view that the Congress itself had given a go by to these States without trying hard to reassert itself in the current elections after the defeats in the Assembly. "We too took a glum view of our prospects after the adverse opinion polls,'' he noted. Interestingly the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje today ascribed the good performance of the BJP to the work carried out by her Government, especially the 100 days programme, during the past five months. "The result has fallen short of a sweep but winning 21 seats out of 25 too is a big recognition from the public. It is a reassurance and renewed mandate,'' she claimed.

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