Even in defeat, Rahul got an enhanced stature and the Congress a morale booster as it prepares to take on the BJP in the upcoming elections
On the morning of December 18, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, a fitness freak, did not skip his morning workout. The idea may have been to keep up a semblance of normalcy despite the atmosphere of tension on counting day.
The previous night, while discussing the possible results in Gujarat, a colleague told him that the Congress would get no more than 75 seats. As the results started coming in, Rahul was joined by mother Sonia and sister Priyanka at his Tughlaq Lane residence in New Delhi. According to sources, Rahul’s office got realtime updates from Gujarat. Soon, there were calls and messages about Congress candidates pulling through. “Congress won, brother,” he texted OBC leader Alpesh Thakore, when he informed Rahul about his victory.
The Congress does see a victory in the Gujarat defeat. AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, in charge of party affairs in Gujarat, said the Congress was the real winner. “The BJP will form government again. But it is not a BJP victory, and neither is it a loss for the Congress,” said Gehlot.
The party, as a closer analysis of the results shows, came very close to upsetting the BJP in Gujarat. In 16 seats, the Congress lost by a margin of less than 3,000 votes. If the four major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot are kept out, it won 71 seats against the BJP’s 53. The party’s vote percentage when compared with the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 increased from 33.5 per cent to 41.5 per cent, whereas that of the BJP dropped from 60 per cent to 49 per cent.
This story is from the December 31, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the December 31, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
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