The Congress recorded its worst-ever performance in the Gujarat Assembly election, winning only 17 seats as opposed to the 77 it had won in 2017. In response to the party’s dismal showing, newly elected Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani expressed disappointment that the Congress “didn’t utilise him much.”
After narrowly defeating the BJP’s Manibhai Vaghela in Vadgam, Mevani told The Indian Express, “The party “did not use me enough” during the elections.
“I strongly feel I could have been used in a much better way; not after I filed my nomination, but much earlier. I fail to understand that when they (the Congress) have a face like mine, who can catch people’s imagination, who has credibility, who is solidly anti-BJP and has a good following, why could he not address public meetings across the state?… Jan sabha karvana chahiye tha (Public meetings should have been held), to energise the people, the Dalits,” he added.
Despite being listed as a star campaigner for the Congress, Mevani only addressed public meetings in some north Gujarat seats in the same region, and one in Ahmedabad’s Vejalpur constituency. The majority of these were organised after he filed his nomination.
It is worth noting that Hardik Patel, the current BJP leader who was key in bringing Mevani into the Congress, had previously lambasted the Congress party for neglecting to consult him and delaying decision-making on party matters in the state of Gujarat before leaving the party and joining the BJP.
Interestingly, the Congress party had planned to transport its MLAs to Rajasthan to avoid what it called ‘Operation Lotus,’ an alleged attempt by the BJP to poach its MLAs. However, as the results of the Gujarat Assembly elections were declared, the grand old party decimated to its lowest-ever tally of seats in Gujarat this year.
In Gujarat, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 156 seats, while the Congress party managed to secure only 17 seats, plummeting below 10% of the total seats.
Gujarat Congress wanted to shift its MLAs to Rajasthan to prevent poaching
This year’s figures are far lower than what the Congress party attained in 2017, which, while the Congress lost to the BJP, provided the party and its adherents with an excuse to elevate Rahul Gandhi to a pedestal.
In 2017, the party claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s efforts paved the way for the party, which increased its tally of 61 seats from the previous assembly elections to 77. The party welcomed Rahul Gandhi as a mature leader and promptly handed over the responsibility of the national president to him.
This year, however, one wonders what the great old party’s members will have to say, as Rahul Gandhi addressed only two rallies, one in Surat and the other in Rajkot. Rahul visited Gujarat in the first week of September, only two days before embarking on his cross-country march from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. Not just that, the question is why did his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which was in the neighbourhood, skip Gujarat.
