Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today played down the defeat of the Congress in the Bhoranj Assembly by-election and said "it was never a bastion of the party".
Reacting to the election result, he said it was not a trend setter for the ensuing Assembly polls and it would have no impact on the Congress in the general elections.
The BJP has hailed the victory as precursor for the state Assembly elections and said it would sweep the polls and return to power.
Former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Lok Sabha member from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur and chief BJP spokesman Rajiv Bindal said the party's victory was only a trailer to the Assembly polls.
"Count down has begun for the Congress and BJP would sweep the Assembly polls and return to power," they claimed.
The BJP had won the Bhoranj seat in 2012 by a margin of more than 10,000 votes and the margin has reduced to 8,290 this time.
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