Is the worst over for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi? The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five of the seven seats in the state where by-elections were held.
For the by-elections, Modi experimented with a novel concept: he did not campaign but micro-managed the campaigning from his bungalow in Gandhinagar. District and taluka level BJP workers were summoned to his residence for fine tuning the campaign details.
The most striking loss for the Congress was at Jasdan, in Rajkot, a seat held by the Congress for the last 50 years! “It shows that the people of Gujarat have faith in BJP and the Modi government,” thundered BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Prasad also blamed the “motivated and renewed campaign” against Modi on the Ishrat Jahan encounter controversy for the Congress’ loss. The Ishrat encounter controversy erupted after the Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate, SP Tamang, said the encounter was “fake” in a report he had prepared.
For their part, Congress leaders blamed the selection of wrong candidates for the debacle. “Dynastic politics has been rejected by Gujarat’s voters. Most of the candidates were either directly related to the members of parliament of the region, or selected by them because of allied business interests. In some cases, the candidates were not even residents of the constituency,” a Congress source said.
Meanwhile, giving his first reaction to the Tamang report, which spoiled image of the state police and become an issue during the by-elections, Narendra Modi said, “I challenge the conspirators who are searching for ways to defame Gujarat to understand the people of the state and respect their feelings.”
Addressing a huge victory rally at Dehgam town in Gandhinagar district on Monday, Modi said, “The public of Gujarat want nothing else besides development… Those who get pleasure in insulting the people of Gujarat should understand their power.” Modi also thanked the people of Gujarat for the BJP’s thumping victory.
