Euphoria at Cong office; despair at BJP headquarters

New Delhi: It was euphoria at the Congress headquarters here as the UPA comfortably sailed through the trust vote, in complete contrast to the opposition BJP office which wore a deserted look.

The 24 Akbar Road office of the Congress was abuzz with party activists bursting crackers, distributing sweets and dancing to bhangra and drumbeats.

A large number of party supporters started pouring into the AICC office, adjacent to party chief Sonia Gandhi's residence, as soon as the results of the crucial trust vote came in.

Party supporters shared their joy by hugging each other and shouting slogans like "Sonia Gandhi Zindabad" and "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad".

"The opposition parties should now pave way for Rahul Gandhi," said Puneet Sharma, an enthusiastic party supporter. People attired in traditional Sikh dress added colour to the festive atmosphere.

Similar was the scene at the residence of Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, who played a crucial role in bringing together Congress and his party, where party chief Mulayam Singh also joined the celebrations.

In complete contrast, the BJP office wore a sombre look with no one except for office staff present.

The OB vans of TV channels stationed outside the Ashok Road office of the BJP throughout the day also left as soon as Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in Parliament announced the results.

The residence of BSP chief Mayawati, who was on the defeated side, however, saw some crowd as she addressed a press conference.

Senior Congress leader and AICC treasurer Motilal Vohra, who was the first to drive into the party office after the trust vote victory, said "we were very happy". "The message has gone down to every household of the country that the Manmohan Singh government has done a lot of good work during its four-year tenure," he said.

"We were never in minority. We went to Parliament to seek trust vote because of a false campaign by the opposition," Vohra said.

Amid scenes of jubilation in front of his residence, an ecstatic SP leader Amar Singh said "today is the happiest day in my political career".

"The politics of Prakash Karat, A B Bardhan and L K Advani has been exposed," he said.