Cong terms Andhra results a revolution

Congress Party supporters celebrate a state election win for a party ally with Party president Sonia Gandhi's poster and party flags in front of Congress Party headquarters in New Delhi yesterday. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, a key regional ally of India's ruling Hindu nationalist coalition, conceded defeat in state elections in the southern state dealing a blow to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's efforts to form a government. PHOTO: AFP

Terming its victory march in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections a silent revolution, Congress leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy has said that the Common man was vexed with TDP misrule.

"It is very clear that Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a silent revolution to dislodge the TDP government. Common man is vexed with its misrule and wants a change," a beaming former Legislature Party leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy, widely seen as Congress' chief ministerial candidate, said as early trends indicated a landslide victory for his party.

Asked about the raging Telangana statehood issue, he said "his party's government would strive to resolve the issue in co-operation with its ally Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

On the other hand BJP yesterday termed the Congress-TRS sweep in Andhra Pradesh as 'unexpected' even if it ruled out any review of its ties with the TDP.

The party also expressed confidence that the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls in the state would be "altogether different."

"We are surprised by the results. We did not expect this kind of performance," party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The party will "find out" the reasons for the debacle of the TDP-BJP alliance and take remedial measures, he said.