ONI Bureau: As we discussed earlier, the leaderless Congress Party in Gujarat had hardly any chances in Gujarat six months ago. Rahul Gandhi, who had no stake in the state, did his best to revive the fortunes of the party, which saw desertion from senior leaders, including Shankarsinh Vaghela just before the polls.
Well, Congress tried hard, but lost the polls. Still, they made a dent into the BJP’s bastion and improved the tally. The Congress won 77 seats on its own while its allies won 3 seats, making it 80.
This is the best performance by Congress in the last 27 years. Congress was in power in Gujarat from 1962 (1st election) till 1990. Their worst performance came in the same year when they could manage just 33 seats and lost power to Janata Dal and BJP alliance.
The party never managed to return to power since then. In 1995, they won 45 seats, followed by 53 in 1998, 51 in 2002, 59 in 2007 and 60 in 2012. This time, they managed to win 77 on their own.
On the other hand, BJP, which won 121 in 1995, 117 in 1998, 127 in 2002, 117 in 2007 and 116 in 2012, finished with 99 in 2017 – a sharp decline, although they still managed to retain the state.
While PM Modi saved BJP’s Asmita in Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi too has something to cheer about.