Congress celebrates 3-2 winHyderabad

Dec. 8: Buoyed by the impressive show of the Congress in the polls in the northern states, the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, predicted that he would win a landslide victory in the upcoming AP Assembly elections. Talking to this correspondent, a beaming Dr Reddy said that people had proved once again that the government that does good work during its tenure would be rewarded. “There was no anti-incumbency factor in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh; in fact there was a pro-incumbency factor which cannot be brushed aside,” he said. “I will again prove that if a government does good things to people, they will reciprocate it whenever opportunity comes.”“My friends Chandrababu Naidu and Chiranjeevi are day-dreaming that the Congress would lose and they will win,” he added. “I would like to tell them not to worry about the Congress. We will win hands down.” Though the Chief Minister was quite upbeat after the poll results came out, the fact remains that the Congress was resigned to the BJP sweeping the four northern states in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. But it was pleasantly surprised by the results.

“We thought the Congress would fare badly in these elections, but people have shown their undeterred commitment to the party,” said the former PCC chief, Mr V. Hanumantha Rao.
He added that if the Congress had been defeated in the polls, things would have become more difficult for Dr Reddy in the state. As such things are looking good for the Chief Minister and this relief was evident in his reaction too. “The election results in the five states have proved beyond doubt that the Congress rule is good not only at the Centre but also for the states,” said the Chief Minister, “However, we should introspect on our failure in Madhya Pradesh.”

Meanwhile, Dr Reddy is leaving for two day trip to Delhi on Tuesday morning. He is expected to meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and seek approval for the Rs 7,000-crore bailout package for the state government to deal with the budget deficit for the financial year 2008-09. The Chief Minister will also meet the Congress President, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, and extend greetings on her birthday. He will be back in the state on Wednesday evening.