Jaswant Singh congratulates Vice President Ansari

New Delhi: Accepting his defeat "gracefully", NDA Vice-Presidential poll candidate Jaswant Singh thanked BJP and its allies for putting him in the fray and maintained the coalition has been further strengthened through the contest."After receiving the the news of victory of Hamid Ansari in the Vice-Presidential candidate, Jaswant Singh accepted his defeat gracefully and made the first call to Ansari wishing him good luck, congratulating him and affirming that he will always be there," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told PTI.Singh got 238 votes against Ansari, the UPA nominee who was re-elected as Vice-President with 490 votes.Singh thanked NDA and in particular the BJP leadership, for fielding him as a candidate.[caption id="attachment_409410" align="alignleft" width="380"] Jaswant Singh. PTI[/caption]"He gave a special thanks to Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, for meticulously planning his campaign," Rudy said.Singh claimed he had got more votes than the in-house calculations made by his election team."His campaign has also resulted in re-consolidation of NDA and over and joining of hands of AIADMK as a non-NDA, non-Congress party can be attributed to him," a party leader said.Asked about this, Rudy said "Singh had a special word of appreciation for AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa whom he had met yesterday in Chennai and who extended her party's unconditional support to him."On behalf of BJP, party Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad extended warm greetings andcongratulations to Ansari.PTI