NEW DELHI: With victories in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat under its belt, BJP feels that people have lost faith in the Congress and it is gaining popular support.

"After the election victories in Himachal and Gujarat, I feel the people of the country have come to a conclusion that only BJP can give good governance," BJP chief Rajnath Singh told reporters here. People have vented their anger at the UPA government, he said at the party headquarters.

"The people have lost faith in the Congress," BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said. Underlining the development plank the party pursued in the hill state, he said the BJP contested the elections on issues like price rise, internal security, corruption and the politics of appeasement.

Singh likened the UPA's "policies of minority appeasement" to the "communal award" of the British rule that had led to the Partition. "UPA is following the same policy," he said.

"If anybody has to be given a special package, the criteria should be poverty and backwardness and not religion," the BJP President said. People have rejected the politics of appeasement, he added.

Asked about the future of the Congress, "I can only say that in the coming Lok Sabha elections BJP will emerge as the single largest party and NDA will form the government headed by L K Advani."

Javdekar said the people have accepted BJP's twin planks of nationalism and development. "It is a positive mandate and BJP will be victorious in the assembly elections next year," he said.