New Delhi: Anti-incumbency is a major factor in Indian politics today. Not only against the governments but there is anti-incumbency against incumbent legislators as well, in a candid interview on Karan Thapar’s Devil’s Advocate Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh admitted that anti-incumbency against sitting MLAs and to a certain extent the Centre's failure to rein in price rise led to its downfall in Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Singh said that in urban areas of Punjab the Congress party could not change the candidates and in certain constituencies the party got it wrong in selecting its nominees.
"Selection of candidates is always a very tricky and very difficult issue," he said, adding that Congress was not at all threatened by the verdict and exuded confidence that it will retain power at the Centre in 2009.
When asked whether the Manmohan Singh Government's failure to tackle inflation was a reason for Congress defeat, he said that to some extent may be yes but quickly added that the Centre was taking all measures to check price rise.
Talking about the rising price, he said price rise was not a new phenomenon and it was there during the NDA government's regime as well when the inflation graph had remained over eight per cent for several weeks.
"The difference is that the previous government did not take adequate measures to contain it. We have come with specific steps to check it," he said and added that state governments also have the responsibility to check price rise.
"The Working Committee met twice and showed the concern. The government has acted and the results are showing, we are satisfied," he said when asked whether the party was happy with the Government's performance.
Singh denied allegations that the Government and the CBI consciously kept under the wraps information about Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi’s detention in Argentina.
"The government did not sit over it. It responded immediately. It made the issue public. The Minister in Rajya Sabha came out with specific details of the arrest," he said and accused the media and opposition of hyping the issue.
He claimed the CBI did not wait for even an hour and it responded immediately. "The NDA had six years to implicate Quattrocchi. My government responded the minute it came to know about his detention," he said.
Singh rubbished reports that Priyanka Vadra and Rahul Gandhi met with Quattrocchi's son Massimo in Delhi in February describing them as "totally speculative" and denied Congress chief Sonia Gandhi having any direct or indirect contacts with the Italian businessman.
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