Advani urges MPs to work for victory in coming polls

New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Tuesday urged the party's MPs to strive for victory in the upcoming assembly elections in six states.

'All MPs should go to the states where polls are being held and ensure the party's victory,' Advani said at a meeting of the BJP's Parliamentary Party that was attended by BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP is in power in three of the states - Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan - where polls will be held November-December. Elections will also be held in Delhi, where the Congress is in power, in Mizoram that is ruled by the Mizo National Front and in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under Governor's Rule.

'Advani said the elections in these states are going to be a dress rehearsal for the parliamentary polls (early next year),' BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj told reporters after the meeting.

'The Congress has not won any important state election in the past two years. There is a positive atmosphere working in favour of the BJP. We stand to retain power in Chattisgarh, Madhaya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, where our governments have done so well,' Swaraj added.

'Terrorism, inflation, corruption and financial crisis are some of the issues that will dominate the coming polls,' said Swaraj, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha.

She said there was an anti-incumbency factor tilting the scales in favour of the BJP in Delhi, where the Congress government had failed to perform.

'The Congress government in the capital has failed on all fronts. We are confident of wresting power from the Congress in Delhi, while we will record a good performance in Jammu and Kashmir,' Swaraj added.

She also spoke about the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's inability to contain inflation and terrorism.

'The government has no effective tools to deal with inflation and terrorism,' she said, referring to high prices of essential commodities and a series of terror blasts in four cities, including New Delhi, in the past few months.