NEW DELHI: The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday said the division in the secular and democratic parties' vote resulted in a clear victory of the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the Bihar Assembly elections.

"People have voted for a change and we accept it ... we tried our best to stop division of the secular vote but some people seemed to have made up their minds," Congress general secretary Ambika Soni told the media at the party headquarters.

The Congress, CPI(M) and the Nationalist Congress Party contested the elections together, while the Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) and the CPI formed an alliance.

Asked whether the poll outcome would affect LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan's future in the Union Cabinet, Ms. Soni said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in consultation with United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and others took such decisions. However, the Bihar poll outcome would not cast a shadow on the UPA Government at the Centre.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau said the division among the secular and democratic parties had been a major contribution to the result. The record of the previous Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Government had caused popular discontent that was also utilised by the JD(U)-BJP alliance.

"The reasons for the setback in a State which had never given a mandate for an alliance which includes the BJP, must be gone into so that appropriate lessons are drawn," the statement said.

The CPI said that in the absence of a viable alternative, the people of Bihar had voted for a rightist combine. "It is a negative vote and it is also a response to the 15-year misrule of the RJD and the neglect of the development of Bihar," party national secretary D. Raja said. He said the secular parties and the Left parties must analyse the results.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail