Even as the Gujarat Congress emerged victorious in the Assembly elections, along with its alliance partners in three States, party president Arjun Modhvadia focussed on the loss of face for Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the five States in which he had campaigned.
Pointing out that the Bharatiya Janata Party had lost all its deposits in all the Assembly seats in Assam and West Bengal, Mr. Modhvadia and leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil said the BJP had lost in all the States in which Mr. Modi had stood.
In Assam, where the BJP projected Mr Modi as the star campaigner, the party could manage to secure a mere four seats, while in West Bengal, the party totalled just one. Mr. Modhvadia and Mr. Gohil claimed that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had succeeded in Tamil Nadu only because party general secretary Jayalalitha kept a distance from the BJP and refused to allow Mr. Modi to campaign for her party candidates.
“Negative politics”
They said Mr. Modi, who had hoped to elevate himself to the national political scenario, had been “totally rejected” by the voters in the five states. The outcome had shown, they said, that the people had no faith in the BJP's “negative politics” and were in support of the constructive development policies of the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance partners.
They also cautioned Mr. Modi that the BJP in the State would be forced to follow the way of the the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal, having been ousted after 34 years in power because the party had dumped its age-old traditional support base comprised of artisans, labourers and farmers, to join hands with the Tatas. Without explicitly mentioning the shifting of the Tata Nano project from West Bengal to Gujarat, Mr. Modhvadia said: “Mr. Modi is doing the same thing in Gujarat and will soon be shown the doors by the voters in the State.”
