It’s a Congress party in Delhi, Mumbai
16 May 2009
There was elation in Congress as it made a clean sweep of Delhi, winning all the seven seats in the National Capital Region. History shows that the party that wins Delhi almost invariably also forms the government at the centre.
The result in the financial capital of Mumbai was similar, with the Congress winning all the five seats it contested. Its ally, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, won the sixth, marking its first win in Mumbai.
While the rabble-rousing Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena did not win a seat, it did cut into the opposition by chalking up a sizeable number of votes that might otherwise have gone to the Shiv Sena-BJP combine. Several of its candidates in Mumbai as well as neighbouring Thane and Bhiwandi polled over one lakh votes. The trend was similar in other urban pockets of Maharashtra, like Pune and Nashik.
Akbar Road, in New Delhi, where the Congress national headquarters are located, reportedly wore a festive look as early as 10.30 am, with Congress workers celebrating the party's good showing in the Lok Sabha elections.
The party flags fluttered, while chants of Sonia Gandhi zindabad rent the air, with nearly 500 supporters dancing to the beat of drums. Large cut-outs of Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Vadhra were carried around, while matrons danced and shouted like children.
A beaming Oscar Fernandes said the result was very much expected. "We will surely cross the magic number and there is no doubt about that," the Congress veteran said.
He also said Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan are with the Congress and would be allies.
Meanwhile, celebrations on Akbar Road.are expected to go on late into the night.
