Terrorism issue seems to help BJP in MP

The Mumbai terror attacks seem to have an effect on the voting pattern in Madhya Pradesh as BJP, which raked up the terrorism issue, appeared to be retaining power, pushing anti-incumbency to the back burner.

The Mumbai terror attacks seem to have an effect on the voting pattern in Madhya Pradesh as BJP, which raked up the terrorism issue, appeared to be retaining power, pushing anti-incumbency to the back burner.

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Even senior Congress leader and Union Minister of State for Home Shakeel Ahmed admitted that the Mumbai attacks had influenced the voting trend.

He, however, expressed satisfaction that despite the Mumbai issue, the Congress has still won Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh went to polls on November 27, just a day after the Mumbai attacks, which gave the BJP an issue to put Congress on the mat.

The BJP had also raised the terrorism issue in Delhi, which went to polls on November 29, but it failed to reap any electoral benefits.

The BJP had made the Malegaon blast incident a major campaign issue in Madhya Pradesh. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the main accused in the serial blasts who hails from Indore, was projected as a victim.

The saffron party had also raised objections to the use of the term 'Hindu terror' to describe the Malegaon blasts.

The BJP has accused the UPA government of being soft on terror and failing on the internal security front for vote-bank politics.