Addressing the media on Tuesday, 19 December, in New Delhi, newly-elected Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he accepted his party’s fate in the Assembly elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
He said Narendra Modi was suffering from a “credibility problem.” The Congress responded to the Prime Minister’s anger with love during their campaign in Gujarat.
Gandhi said that his party performed much better than expected.
Three to four months back, when we went to Gujarat, it was said that Congress cannot fight the BJP. For those few months, we worked hard and you have seen the results. The BJP has suffered a massive jolt.Rahul Gandhi, president, Indian National Congress
Appreciating his party’s performance in the state, Gandhi even questioned Narendra Modi’s model, saying that the people in Gujarat do not approve of Modiji's model.
The marketing and propaganda used by the BJP is very good, but it is hollow; they could not answer our campaign. This is quite a good result for us, the only thing is that we fell short of majority.Rahul Gandhi
Congress’ Best Performance in Gujarat in 30 Years
Even as the Congress lost with 77 seats, the party did surprise many with their tenacious performance in the Prime Minister’s home state of Gujarat.
Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala did not leave the opportunity to warn the BJP of the same. After the verdict, Surjewala on Monday took to Twitter to tell the BJP that the Congress wasn’t far behind.
In his tweet, Surjewala highlighted the fact that there was a difference of just less than 3000 votes between Congress and the BJP on 16 assembly seats.
Rahul Lauds Congress Workers
Consoling Congress supporters and workers, the party chief on Monday tweeted, “My Congress brothers and sisters, you have made me very proud. You are different than those you fought because you fought anger with dignity.”
Gandhi also acknowledged the ‘decency’ and ‘courage’ of the Congress party and its supporters.
The takeaway of the results from Gujarat for Congress is that Rahul Gandhi can now be considered a viable competitor to Narendra Modi. What the results showed is that with the right campaigning and targeting the right issues, Congress can get itself out from under BJP’s shadow.
Whatever the result in Himachal, with the challenge that they posed to BJP in Gujarat, Congress might have just opened up Indian politics again. The response garnered by Congress in Gujarat is enough to put Rahul on the political map again.
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