New Delhi: Congress has accepted defeat: BJPBJP on Tuesday said the overtures made by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar showed that his party has accepted defeat in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
"You don't have to read between the lines to come to the conclusion that Rahul Gandhi has conceded defeat in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. He has tried to reach out to Nitish Kumar and Naidu to make up for the complete rout of his party in these two states," BJP spokesperson Balbir Punj said.
During his press conference earlier in the day, Gandhi had praised Naidu and Kumar, saying, "I respect Naidu. He has done a good job...may be he focused on Hyderabad. I am not saying (only we have leaders). There are leaders who are in the opposition. Nitish for example."
Another BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said Gandhi's statement "vindicates BJP stand that UPA will emerge as a political debris post-elections, scavenging for survival".
Punj accused Congress of poaching NDA partners after the "complete disintegration of UPA and the frustration and desperation of Congress on the possible results of the on-going Lok Sabha elections."
The BJP MP also said the case against Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quottrocchi was not dead. "If it was a dead issue, where was the need for them to withdraw the Red Corner Notice at the cost of such huge political embarrassment at the time of Lok Sabha elections?" he said.
Aim to form non-Congress, non-BJP govt: LeftAttempts by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to woo the Left parties is "an admission of their defeat" in the elections which would throw up a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative coalition, the CPI said on Tuesday.
"This is an admission that Congress is losing. It is an admission of their own defeat," party National Secretary D
Raja said.
Maintaining that the Left had supported a Congress-led coalition for four and a half years to prevent BJP from coming to power, he said "the Congress was responsible (for the break up with the Left) .... It betrayed the trust of the Left and therefore of the entire nation."
Raja said the Left parties had "serious differences with Congress on several issues and the Indo-US nuclear deal was "only one of them".
"It does not seem at all that the Congress is doing any introspection as to why this relationship (with Left) was destroyed. It continues to pursue the same neo-liberal policies," he said.
The CPI leader said he was confident that the Left efforts to make a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative come to power at the Centre would succeed.
At a press conference, Gandhi said Congress and the Left had common ground on several issues and exuded confidence that the communists could support a Congress-led government.