AURANGABAD, DEC 12: The Congress will be routed in Maharashtra in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde said here on Wednesday.

Congress could not hope to do any better in the present situation, Munde remarked, considering it did not have a charismatic leader. Besides, there was a question mark on its credibility because of its failure to stick to its promises, he added.

Talking to The Indian Express, Munde, who was in an upbeat mood, said that even in the last elections, Congress could find foothold only in Solapur and Kolhapur.

When asked whether BJP's fortunes at the hustings would be affected in the event of Sonia Gandhi joining politics, Munde retorted, ``Then we would ask the people whether they want a Ram rajya or Rome rajya.''

Moreover, a majority of Congress MPs were willing to join the BJP to avoid a mid-term poll, Munde claimed, adding that Sonia would find it difficult to control the party in such a situation.

Quoting statistics, Munde said that after the BJP-Shiv Sena assumed power in the State, the alliance vote percentage in every elections, be it in the sugar-co-operatives or grampanchayats-zilla parishads, had gone up considerably.

Munde was confident that the Dalit community would fully support him. The mammoth crowd that turned up to hear him at a public function at the PES college - founded by Ambedkar - was just an indication of their support, he said. ``Contrast this with the poor response to the December 6 rally at Chaitya Bhoomi organised by RPI leaders,'' Munde added. On the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, Munde said that there was no need to harbour any doubts about its continuance. An agreement on the number of seats to be contested by each party could be reached in just five minutes, he claimed.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.