The Congress’s clean sweep in the assembly elections in three states — Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh — has predictably sent the Gujarat Congmen’s spirits soaring.
The Congress’s clean sweep in the assembly elections in three states — Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh — has predictably sent the Gujarat Congmen’s spirits soaring. The mood among the BJP cadres was expectedly downcast, more so because they expected better results in Maharashtra.
The charisma of the BJP’s star campaigner Narendra Modi apparently failed to work this time. In yet another departure from the convention of past years, Modi had kept his campaign in Maharashtra very low key. In the second week of October, he campaigned in the Maratha heartlands of Nashik, Kolhapur and Amravati.
Of these, only one seat — Kolhapur North — went to the Shiv Sena. Incidentally, all three Nashik assembly seats were bagged by MNS candidates. Congress won the Amravati seat, where Modi was famously quoted for deriding the Nehru-Gandhi family for poverty in India and the inability to control inflation. Sources in the BJP said Modi’s rallies in Mumbai were planned, but cancelled without much explanation.
On Thursday, the dejection in the BJP camp was palpable as a leader candidly admitted that the party was pretty ‘directionless’. “There was no clear agenda for the polls. It was strongly felt during the Gujarat polls too, but the party pulled through because of Modi’s personal charisma and a weak opposition. Let’s hope this defeat serves as an eye-opener for the national leadership, forcing them to take a clear ideological stand on the future of party,” the leader said.
Sources in the BJP’s Khanpur office felt that with the BJP losing ground in other states, a lot of focus will be on retaining Gujarat. “Every small election in Gujarat will be given utmost importance. No panchayat, dairy, cooperative bank or corporation elections will be taken lightly,” a source said.
As for the Congress, there were jubilations all around, but none more vibrant than that at Shakersinh Vaghela’s Diwali gathering in Gandhinagar. Crackers were fired at the Congress house in Paldi in the evening as the results poured in.
Gujarat MPs Tusharsinh Chaudhary and Bharatsinh Solanki were asked to campaign extensively in the border regions of north Maharashtra. More than 100 workers from south Gujarat were sent to campaign for 10 days. The Congress-NCP’s performance on these seats is reportedly very impressive, as GPCC president Siddharth Patel, earlier in charge of Maharashtra, was also closely involved in strategising.
Former MP from Sabarkantha, Madhusudan Mistry was involved in overseeing the campaigning in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies.
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