Congress, JD(U) trash opinions polls predicting BJP surge

Patna/New Delhi: Congress and JD(U) on Friday trashed the latest opinion polls that predicted a BJP surge, claiming there is a 'political agenda' behind these surveys and that they are nothing but a 'public relations campaign'.

The BJP on the other hand trumpeted the projections of the opinion polls for the Lok Sabha elections to claim that only NDA can provide a stable government and suggested that several regional parties, which were once its allies, could return to its fold leading to 'greater NDA'.

"Such surveys keep coming...there is a political agenda behind such surveys," said senior Congress leader and Union Minister Jairam Ramesh while dismissing election surveys projecting lower seats for Congress and a surge for BJP.

"Similar surveys went wrong in 2004 as well 2009 and saw Congress led UPA to power," he told reporters in Patna.

Another Union Minister Manish Tewari too debunked the poll surveys, saying those who have chosen prime ministerial candidates will sit in Opposition, a veiled reference to BJP.

"After demolishing all surveys and analyses, when results of 2014 Lok Sabha elections come, you'll find that with God's grace and support of people those who have given Prime Ministers to the country are back in power and those who have given Prime Ministerial candidates are again back in their permanent place, the Opposition," Tewari told reporters in Delhi.

The Congress leader said 'certain people' had a habit of writing off the party, which has a habit of bouncing back.

With election surveys projecting that his JD(U) may not do well in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dismissed them as 'PR campaign to boost TRP' and said poll results would send them into "deep shock."

"These surveys are nothing but a Public Relation campaign which are beamed on TVs to increase their TRP," Kumar said in Patna.

"Some surveys show that more than 63 per cent people say they are satisfied with performance of my government but will not vote for me," he said.

"Have you ever heard somebody saying I am satisfied with your work but will not vote for you?" he said picking holes in the conduct of surveys.

In an apparent dig at his arch rival Narendra Modi, Kumar dubbed him as 'rumour master' and accused the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate and his party of launching 'disinformation' campaign against him.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the opinion polls projected the party as the front-runner and claimed that current indications show that it could surpass its previous highest tally of 183 seats in the Lok Sabha.

At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Shobha Oza spoke in similar vein about the poll surveys.

She said that the whole country had seen the 'India Shining' campaign of the BJP in 2004 and the result of the Lok Sabha polls later exposed it completely.