In the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) establishing its supremacy in the recently-concluded Assembly polls by gaining a clear majority in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and staking claim to form a government in Goa and Manipur, senior Congress leader and former cabinet minister P. Chidamabaram on Monday asserted that any political party that comes second in the elections cannot form the government.
"A party that comes second has no right to form the Government. BJP stealing elections in Goa and Manipur," Chidambaram tweeted.
Earlier, the BJP declared a Chief Minister for Goa, in the form of Manohar Parrikar, and sealed its candidature by garnering support from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward Party.
The BJP has also been working overtime to ensure it forms the government in Manipur as well.
The Congress has, however, been slow in deciding on its chief ministerial nominee for both the states.
In the five states where the Assembly polls took place, the Congress managed to secure a clear majority only in Punjab with as many as 77 seats in the 117-seat Assembly, making a strong comeback after a decade.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 20 seats on debut, making it the second largest party in the Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP alliance fared the worst with 18 seats.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)