Triumph in K’taka will be a turning point: Advani

“This geographical expansion of the BJP, and the simultaneous shrinkage of the Congress party almost all over the country, shows the shape of things to come in the run-up to the next Parliamentary elections,” he said.

He also dubbed the poll victory as a verdict against the Congress party’s “politics of opportunism” and the JD(S)’s “politics of betrayal”.

Keen to target the Congress-led Centre, Advani said the Congress party would be indulging in “self-delusion” if it thought that the people of Karnataka were influenced by the local factors.

“The UPA government’s utter failure to control the prices of essential commodities, its soft and compromising policy on terrorism, and its insensitivity towards the plight of kisans have angered the common people all over the country,” he said.

This, Advani said, was evident from the Congress’ defeat in almost all the Assembly elections held since it came to power at the Centre in May 2004.

“I have no doubt that the party’s triumph in Karnataka will prove to be a turning point comparable to the quantum increase in parliamentary strength that the BJP achieved in 1989,” the party’s Prime Ministerial face remarked.

The BJP had won 86 seats in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, up from only two in 1984.

From 86 seats in 1989, the BJP consistenly improved its performance leading to formation of its government in 1998, ending the Congress’ domination at the Centre and transforming India’s polity into a bi-polar system, Advani said.

“Nearly 20 years later, another turning point has arrived in the challenge put up by BJP to the hegemony of Congress.

“Whereas earlier our party’s growth was due to its ability to form governments in northern and western states, and also later, in Orissa and Bihar in the East, now for the first time we are in a position to form government in a southern state,” Advani said.