The Congress, while expressing confidence that it will retain Himachal Pradesh in the forthcoming elections — dates for which were announced on Thursday — said it was surprised the dates for Gujarat poll were not announced simultaneously.
“The dates for Gujarat were not announced today along with Himachal Pradesh, and there will be a gap of more than one month before the results are announced,” party MP and secretary in charge of the State Ranjeet Ranjan said. “It indicates that the BJP is scared of the outcome in Gujarat.” She hinted that perhaps the ruling BJP wished to make some pre-election announcement for Gujarat, before announcing the poll dates.
She added that the Congress welcomed the Election Commission’s announcement that it would use VVPAT machines in Himachal Pradesh.
Ms. Ranjan’s remarks come against the backdrop of the general belief that the Congress is likely to do better in Gujarat than in Himachal Pradesh, where Chief Minister Veerbhadra Singh is at loggerheads with State chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. But Ms. Ranjan said after party vice-president Rahul Gandhi on October 7 announced, while on a visit, that Mr. Singh would be the chief ministerial candidate — the mood had begun to change in favour of the Congress.
She said there were two other reasons why the Congress was feeling confident — the BJP had many leaders but no official face for the elections, and two the Congress had a development record that was better than the BJP’s at the Centre. The economic downturn in the country, she claimed, was going against the BJP.
Asked about the corruption charges against Mr. Veerbhadra Singh, she said there were so many corruption charges against BJP leaders, starting with its president Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah, that it was not making any impact on the ground.
