Gujarat polls: BJP says its development agenda won and negative politics of Congress lost

PTI, Dec 8, 2022, 2:16 PM IST

As the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday looked set for its best ever victory tally in the Gujarat Assembly polls, the saffron outfit termed it as a reflection of its development agenda and a defeat of the Congress’s ”negative politics”.

BJP workers danced in joy as the saffron camp went into a festive mood after trends reflected the the party was all set to return to power for a seventh term in Gujarat.

Hundreds of BJP workers thronged the party office in the capital Gandhinagar. They danced and distributed sweets outside the state party headquarters, as senior leaders started pouring in.

As Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and state BJP president C R Paatil arrived at BJP office at around 12.30 pm, the party supporters were seen highly excited and security personnel had a tough time controlling the crowd.

The BJP supporters shouted ”Modi Modi” as they waved party flags and danced on popular Gujarati numbers.

”It is a victory of the party’s double-engine development agenda. The massive verdict reflects people’s trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. It is a victory of the agenda of development that the party has carried out in the state,” Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas told PTI.

”The Congress should learn its lessons now as negative politics won’t take them anywhere. The Congress has been wiped out by the masses from the state,” he said.

Commenting on the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party, Vyas said the AAP’s presence was limited to only social media and a section of the urban population.

Gujarat BJP vice president Gordhanbhai Zadafia said the victory in the state would propel the party’s prospects in other states in days to come.

”Unlike the opposition which was into negative politics, we were focussed on the development of the state. The people of the state reposed faith in us and led our party to this unprecedented victory,” he said.

Zadafia expressed happiness over his party touching the feat of the erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal.

”We now hold the record of being in power for the seventh term. The results are an answer to parties like the Congress and AAP, which tried to undermine our achievements,” he said.

Targeting the Congress, Zadafia said the grand old party now has to struggle to get the main opposition status in Gujarat.

”The Congress is paying for its own sins. It has been wiped out and is now fighting for existence in Gujarat, just like other parts of the country,” he said.

The BJP appeared headed for a record victory in Gujarat as trends available after five rounds of voting showed the party was leading in 155 of the state’s 182 Assembly seats that went to polls earlier this month.

The Congress was seen finishing a distant second, with leads in 18 seats, while the AAP was leading in 6 seats. Others, including independent candidate, were ahead in 3 seats, the Election Commission said as counting of votes crossed the half-way mark in most constituencies.

The BJP has so far received 53 per cent of the votes counted, while Congress had 27 per cent and AAP 13 per cent.

If the trends continued through the day, the BJP would not only beat its best showing till date – 127 seats in 2002, but also surpass the all-time record set by the Congress party in 1985, when it won 149 seats under the leadership of late Madhavsinh Solanki.

In winning for a seventh term, the party would also equal the Left Front’s feat in West Bengal.

Banking on the charisma of PM Modi, who addressed as many as 30 election rallies, the BJP overcame anti-incumbency yet again after being in power for 27 years without losing an election since 1995. It had 99 seats in the outgoing house with a 49.1 per cent vote share.

With its expected huge victory in the home state of PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP, which focused on a development agenda, was set to equal Left Front’s feat of seven consecutive terms in West Bengal.

The CPI(M)-led Front ruled the eastern state for 34 years from 1977 to 2011.

Though the opposition took on the Modi government over rising inflation, slowing growth and joblessness, the economic troubles apparently did not dent BJP’s popularity in Gujarat, that has been a bastion of the party for decades.