Ahmedabad: Registering its highest ever poll support in its 'hindutva' laboratory,
Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP's) hat-trick to power in Gujarat in the first post-
Godhra election was propelled by a sharp increase in votes in the Central parts,
worst hit in the communal violence.
With a 11 per cent rise in votes in this area comprising 50 of the state's 182
seats, BJP made a mincemeat of the Congress trouncing it in 25 seats to record the
highest tally of 42 as compared to just 19 in the last Assembly elections.
The BJP inroads in the Congress bastion were so deep that tribal districts of Dahod
and Panchmahals as also Vadodara were overrun in the saffron surge leaving not a
single seat to the main Opposition party. Godhra is part of the Panchmahals
district.
Almost similar was the story in Ahmedabad district having 19 constituencies where
the BJP bagged all but two, an increase of six seats.
The velocity of the saffron storm was so intense that Sabarmati, a constituency
which was won by the Congress by 20,000 votes over a year back in a bypoll, was lost
this time by some 59,000 votes.
BJP also managed to keep its hold on North Gujarat, some parts of which were also
hit in the violence, by winning 35 out of the 52 seats from the region, the home
turf of both Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC)
president Shankersinh Vaghela.
Congress attempts to revive the KHAM (kshatriya, harijan, adivasis and minorities)
strategy to boost its electoral fortunes came a cropper in the face of
aggressive 'hindutva' despite Vaghela, known for his skill in the art of social
engineering, at the helm of affairs.
Similar was the fate of the Congress agenda. The issues of water, electricity and
development failed to generate much enthusiasm in spite of the presence of the anti
incumbency factor which had helped the party to win the civic polls and zilla
panchayat polls a couple of years back.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi shrewdly managed to minimise the impact of the anti
incumbency factor by focussing his campaign on terrorism, Pakistan and the "pride"
of Gujarat and seeking to project that he was the true inheritor of the legacy of
Sardar Patel.
While Central and North Gujarat, having sizable population of tribals, traditional
supporters of Congress, turned saffron, South Gujarat which also has some tribal
population offered some solace to the main opposition party out of power in the
state for 13 long years.
In South Gujarat having 28 seats, Congress offered some resistance to the BJP by
restricting the saffron party to 14 seats and winning 12, one more than last time.
PTI
