Confident that it was getting close to the magic number in Gujarat, 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 began to trickle in today (December 8, Thursday), the grand old party is decimated to its lowest-ever tally of seats in Gujarat this year.
In Gujarat, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party is set to bag 156 seats, while the Congress party is winning 17 seats.
Desh Gujarat reported on Wednesday that the top State Congress leaders, including party chief Jagdish Thakor, State party in-charge Raghu Shamara, and others, met at the State party headquarters in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad and decided to relocate newly elected Congress MLAs to party-ruled neighbouring State Rajasthan after their election so that the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot poach them if the BJP is short in numbers.
Even though all exit polls showed a clear BJP victory by a comfortable to large margin, State Congress officials were certain that the party’s tally will be higher than in 2017. Congress believed that BJP will not cross the halfway mark and will need the support of other parties to form the government. The party delegated zone-wise responsibilities to various leaders and instructed them to keep in touch with the party’s winning candidate and mobilise them to Rajasthan when called upon.
Congress struggles to gain even a tenth of a seat in Gujarat
To their disappointment, Congress is now battling to gain even a tenth of a seat in the state. According to recent reports, the BJP is anticipated to win 156 seats based on current trends and results that have already been reported. Congress, on the other hand, is expected to win only 17 of the 182 seats, plummeting below 10% of the total seats.
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.
Congress planned to shift Himachal MLAs also to Rajasthan
Not just Gujarat MLAs, the Congress party had planned to shift its newly elected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh also to Rajasthan, for the same reason, to prevent alleged poaching by BJP. However, that plan was also dropped, although it was due to the completely opposite reason. While Himachal Pradesh election results were anticipated to be close, Congress actually won a comfortable majority. The party has won 40 seats in the 68-member house, with the ruling BJP getting 25 seats. This means, Congress is forming the government and there is no fear of poaching by BJP. As a result, Congress party cancelled the plan to shift their Himachal MLAs to Congress-ruled Rajasthan, and has called them to Chandigarh instead to discuss about the government formation.
