Congress leader Botsa Satyanarayana admits defeat in Seemandhra

A day before the counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha election, a senior Congress leader on Thursday admitted the party's defeat in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh. Botsa Satyanarayana, former president of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress, told reporters here that the party will suffer defeat in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Seemandhra. Satyanarayana said the results would be no different from this week's municipal and panchayat elections in which the Congress faced a humiliating defeat.

He said the party was losing heavily because of its decision to bifurcate the state. He, however, said that since the Congress delivered Telangana state, he hoped it will come to power in the new state. Satyanarayana, a former minister who is seeking re-election for the assembly in Seemandhra, said the Congress committed some mistakes during its decade-long rule in the state. He, however, claimed that the party also implemented several welfare and development programmes.

Without making a prediction as to which party will come to power in Seemandhra, the Congress leader said whoever forms the government should fulfill its poll promises within 100 days.