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'Cong may not touch three-figure mark'
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said Congress' strength has been continually on the decline while that of the BJP is on the rise.
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani on Tuesday said that Congress, which had 112 members in the dissolved Lok Sabha, might not touch the three-figure mark in the coming elections.
Congress' strength has been continually on the decline while that of the BJP is on the rise, Advani told a public meeting here.
Recalling that the Congress had won over a record 400 seats in the 1984 parliamentary polls held in the aftermath of the tragic assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi, he said a "sympathy wave" swept the country leading to the landslide Congress victory and routing the opposition.
The BJP won only two seats but that election proved to be the turning point in India's electoral history, he said.
"Since then the Congress has been steadily shrinking while the BJP has been growing," Advani remarked adding "we have become the largest single party in the Lok Sabha while the Congress has only 112 members".
"I have often advised Congress leaders to think over the matter and analyse as to why their party was facing this situation," he said.
Praising the BJD-BJP government's performance in the last four years in the state, Advani said that people were of the "opinion that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is honest and is not willing to compromise on corruption".
"The Congress was providing shelter to people rejected by the BJD," Advani said.
Going back further into the country's political history, he said the erstwhile Jan Sangh had cooperated with Jayprakash Narayan when he launched his movement against corruption in the 1970's.
"In fact, the Congress decay started with this movement," he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Bharat Uday Yatra had received rousing reception in backward areas like Kalahandi and Balangir which reflected the achievements of the NDA government at the Centre and BJD-BJP government in Orissa.
Referring to his 32-day-old yatra, Advani said that India would shine completely when all villages would have facilities including roads, electricity, drinking water, health care, education and water for irrigation.
"We aim to achieve it by 2020," he said.
