Rediff
Ahmedabad, May 24: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Monday conceded that the people have given the Congress another chance to head the government, but added that the party had benefited by the perceived 'blackmailing' by the Left and some United Progressive Alliance allies.
Making his first public appearance after the defeat of his party at the recent Lok Sabha elections, Advani said some UPA allies and the Left have been 'punished' by the electorate and the Congress got the benefit in the process.
Referring to the Left parties' debacle in the polls, he said, "Communists became the scapegoat of the Congress' failures".
Advani was speaking at a function, organised by the state BJP in Ahmedabad, to thank the voters of Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad for electing BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.
"I have been asked about the verdict of the electorate in the Lok Sabha polls. I think the main factor is that the people have punished Communists, who according to them were blackmailing the Congress," he said.
"People have also voted out smaller parties which were aspiring to get power at the Centre with their limited strength. People have voted for bipolar polity with two main parties," Advani said.
"This is in fact an endorsement of BJP's stand that there should be two dominant parties at the national level," he said, adding, "Jan Sangh and BJP's creation was meant to break the dominance of a single dominant party in the polity of the country and the BJP has done this."
"I have made a suggestion regarding holding of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls simultaneously. I will pursue it with the government and other parties," he said, adding there should be a fixed term for Parliament as well as state assemblies.
He thanked the people of Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency for electing him for the fifth time to the Lok Sabha and expressed his gratitude to the local BJP workers. He also profusely praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government for providing good and honest governance in the state.
Advani said that after Independence, the Congress had emerged as the main party at the state as well as the national level.
"The BJP has ushered in a two-party system in the country, breaking the dominance of the single dominant party polity. I am happy that people have endorsed our view and chosen a bipolar polity."
"We wished that people of the country had also punished the Congress for its failure on various fronts including economy, security and governance, but eventually people have voted for the Congress and punished its allies," he said.
On the black money issue, Advani, who would be Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said when he raised the issue, Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ridiculed him.
"Subsequently, even Manmohan Singh said that if voted to power, the Congress would bring back the money stashed away in foreign banks. They have made a lot of promises to the electorate. Now, as Opposition, we will remind them of these promises and would ask them to fulfill them," Advani said.