New Delhi: Close to his worst-ever performance in Gujarat, a senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, “Neither did I campaign in Gujarat nor was I on the list of people who were expected to campaign. So, without going to Gujarat, it is very difficult for me to answer on the Gujarat election results.”
Shashi Tharoor’s name was dropped from the list of Congress campaigners in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh when he contested for the post of Congress president against Mallikarjun Kharge. Kharge was the Gandhi family’s choice. The link between these two incidents was clearly visible.
The BJP has achieved a spectacular result by winning more than 150 of the 182 seats in Gujarat. This is a record not only for the party, but for the state and it demolished the record set by the Congress in 1985 on 149 seats.
“It is shocking that anti-incumbency against the BJP has worked for us in Himachal, but while it did not happen in Gujarat,” Tharoor on the sidelines of the Parliament session.
Arvind Kejriwal’s party is heading for nearly six seats in Gujarat, much more modest than the Aam Aadmi Party had expected. However, the election results have given the party a chance to gain a foothold in a state with a two polar history. So far, only the Congress or the BJP were seen as an alternative in Gujarat.
The BJP has won its seventh consecutive term in Gujarat. This is another record. Its victory is due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi held over 30 rallies in his home state. At the same time, Congress’s biggest star Rahul Gandhi held two rallies.