Victory proves Cong back on track: Capt

Chandigarh, October 16
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said the stupendous victory in the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha byelection “is a precursor of the revival of the Congress at the national level”.
Comparing the poll results to the Chikmagalur victory of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which marked the revival of the Congress in the late 1970s, Amarinder said the results underlined the downfall of the BJP that had been fuelled by the adverse impact of the GST and demonetisation.
“The results will strengthen the party’s upward trend which began with the win in various university student union elections, Maharashtra civic polls and Kerala bypoll,” said Amarinder.
Crediting Sunil Jakhar and party MLAs and workers for the victory, the CM said it reaffirmed anti-Akali sentiments, especially in Gurdaspur, where victory margin was much higher.
In the Assembly constituencies falling in Pathankot district, he attributed the Rajput factor for comparatively lesser margins for the Congress. The only exception was the BJP bastion, Sujanpur, where senior Congress leader Brahm Mohindra was camping. Aiming at AAP, the CM said the vote share of the party had come down to 2 per cent. He pointed out that AAP’s Sucha Singh Chhotepur polled 1,73,376 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the same party could manage 23,579 votes, with its candidate even losing his security deposit.