Exit poll doesn’t move Advani: Cong may not even cross 2-digit mark

Dismissing exit poll forecasts of a hung Lok Sabha and a weaker NDA, Deputy PM L.K. Advani today said that he would be surprised if the Congress was able to cross the two-digit mark in the Lok Sabha. ‘‘I will be surprised if they (Congress) can cross the two-digit mark in terms of seats in this election,’’ said Advani at an election rally at the Rajiv Gandhi maidan here. The rally was held in support of Sibnarayan Saha, the BJP’s candidate for the Durgapur Lok Sabha seat.

Advani said that the Congress was ‘‘sinking’’ at an alarming speed. There was a time when the Congress towered above other political parties, he said, ‘‘but BJP has now become the principal party in the country’’. Attacking the Congress for its ‘‘failure’’ to announce its prime ministerial candidate, he said the BJP-led NDA had once again projected A.B. Vajpayee as their prime ministerial candidate.

At Balurghat, Advani claimed that the CPI(M) was actually the Congress B-team and the people should bid farewell to the two. ‘‘The CPI(M) helped the Congress during the Emergency. Now they have joined the Congress to stand in the way of the process of development that the BJP has started,’’ he said.