Victories along the four polling states left BJP workers in Guj rejoicing.
The results of the assembly elections in four states had a mixed response in the city.
While it was celebration time for the BJP, which is likely to form government in these states, the mood was sombre in the Congress camp. The results also brought cheers for the supporters of the debutant, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which performed exceedingly well in the Delhi polls.
Mood upbeat at Gujarat BJP unit
After a calm morning, as soon as the trends and results of the assembly elections in four states started pouring in, all roads led to Pandit Deendayal Bhavan here in Khanpur, the state BJP headquarters. Several BJP councillors and hundreds of party workers, who gathered outside the party office, were seen in a boisterous mood, holding the party flag high, beating drums, shouting slogans, distributing sweets and bursting crackers. Amongst the party leaders present for the celebrations were, former mayor Asit Vora and standing committee chairman of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) Bhupendra Patel.
Party workers also displayed a huge portrait of state chief minister Narendra Modi and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections, with the message ‘Gujarat nu Gaurav, have banshe Bharat desh nu Gaurav’ (Gujarat’s pride, will now become India’s pride). Hundreds of party workers were also seen wearing Modi masks. Modi was the party’s key campaigner in all the four states.
Hailing the victory in these states, state BJP chief RC Faldu congratulated the people of Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Rajasthan for rejecting the Congress. “People of these states have voted for the party that works for the development and welfare of the poor and downtrodden. Hard work by party’s rank and file and marathon campaigning by CM Narendra Modi greatly helped us. This is a good sign for the party and it will perform even better in the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2014,” he said.
Highlighting rampant corruption and price rise under the UPA government at the Centre, he said: “Fed up with scams, price rise and deteriorating law and order situation under the Congress rule, people of the country are now looking forward to Narendra Modi as the next prime minister of India,” he added. Meanwhile, reports of celebrations also came in from various district units of the BJP. Party workers also organised a rally on the SG Highway later in the evening.
AAP’s rally spoiled
The stunning performance of the AAP in Delhi assembly elections brought cheers among the local workers of the party. However, their attempt to celebrate the occasion was foiled by the Vastrapur police here. Around 50 supporters of the AAP had gathered at the Vastrapur Lake on Sunday afternoon to organise a rally as a mark of victory. However, their plan was spoiled when police denied permission for the same maintaining that prior permission from the administration was required to hold the rally. The police also detained 17 of its workers, including state convenor Sukhdev Patel. But later they were released.
“We were here to celebrate the occasion. After winning elections every party organise celebrations. Even BJP workers celebrated in the morning. We do not know if they had prior permission or not. The BJP government is misusing the police machinery in Gujarat,” Sukhdev Patel said.
BJP wins Surat West by-election too
Surat: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi pipped Congress candidate DL Patel by a massive margin — 66,374 votes — to win the Surat West by-election on Sunday. A total of 2,307 none of the above (Nota) votes were also recorded which affected BJP’s winning margin.
The voting began at 8 am at the Dr S and SS Gandhy Engineering College and results were declared at around 12 pm where Modi was declared as the winner with 86,029 votes. His counterpart — Patel — got only 19,755 votes.
BJP has a strong hold over Surat West seat and it has never lost an election in the past two decades. Still, BJP’s winning margin was reduced slightly in this by-election. In the 2012 by-election, BJP candidate Kishore Vankawala won by 69,731 votes. He got a total of 99,099 votes.
We will work harder: Congress
State Congress headquarters, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, wore a deserted look. Accepting defeat in the assembly elections, leaders of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) maintained that Congress would continue to work for the people.
Putting up a brave front, GPCC president Arjun Modhwadia said: “People of Rajasthan have a history of voting out the government in power. Though the Gehlot government worked for the welfare of the people, it failed to win votes. Because of local issues and the AAP factor in Delhi Sheila Dikshit had to face defeat. In MP and Chhattisgarh our strategy didn’t work. However, this result should not be an indicator of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.”
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