Gujarat voters have rejected 'Congress-CBI alliance', says BJP

The BJP today said that its bypoll win in Kathlal in Gujarat has proved that the state voters have completely rejected the "Congress-CBI alliance".

The party wrested the seat from the Congress, which has won it in every elections since Gujarat was formed in 1960.

"The Congress-CBI alliance and misuse of CBI in Gujarat has been completely rejected by the by the people of the state," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman told reporters here, in an apparent reference to the arrest of former state home minister Amit Shah by CBI in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

"It is a slap on the face of Congress for trying all kinds of methods including misuse of CBI to gain politically in a state where they have been repeatedly rejected," she said, hailing her party's victory in the Congress bastion as "historic".

Alleging that the Congress-led UPA government had misused the CBI as a tool to harass the people, voters and state government, the BJP spokesperson said, "It has now been proved in Gujarat that you cannot win electorally" by such methods.

"Three generations of the Solanki family have held sway over this seat on behalf of the Congress for long. But the voters of Gujarat have approved state Chief Minister Narendra Modi's good governance and have given a massive, substantial victory margin to the BJP," she said.

The spokesperson said after Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka bypoll losses, the Congress had been defeated in Gujarat too.

"By this, Congress can understand that it is increasing losing the pulse of the people," she said and claimed that it would affect the party's morale in Bihar.

Sitaraman refused to take any questions on the resignation of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha as in-charge of Punjab affairs and on the Ayodhya title suits in which the judgment is expected on September 24.