By IANS,
Jammu : The victory of the Congress party in three of the five states that elected new assemblies was due to the “maturity of voters and rejection of negative politics”, which was being expressed by voters in Jammu and Kashmir as well, Union Minister for Water Resources Saif-ud-din Soz said here Tuesday.
“False and baseless propaganda by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the boycott call by separatists in Jammu and Kashmir is negative politics. People have strongly rejected it in both the cases,” Soz, president of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), told reporters at a press conference here.
The Congress Monday bested the BJP in two out of five states that went to the polls in staggered elections that ended Dec 4. The Congress retained power for a record third five-year term in Delhi, wrested Mizoram from the Mizo National Front and ousted the BJP in Rajasthan — while losing to it decisively in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in assembly elections that were the last popularity test ahead of the Lok Sabha battle.
Soz said the Congress victory was not ordinary and signified that people in not only Jammu and Kashmir, but across the nation had understood that electing the party meant choosing “peace, progress and dignity”.
The PCC chief was confident that by virtue of a positive campaign, his party will get sufficient numbers to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
“People have expressed confidence in our commitment for overall development of the state,” he said.
Soz described the voter’s rejection fo the poll boycott call in Kashmir as an “enormous development wherein people have reposed faith and trust in democracy”, adding that it shows how deep rooted Indian democracy was.