Without Ahmed Patel Congress loses sheen in Gujarat, blames AAP and AIMIM

Congress leaders are privately admitting that without Ahmed Patel the Congress has suffered a lot as he had managed the Congress show in the state and the party was not in such a humiliating position.

New Delhi: The Congress slid to it’s lowest position in the recent Gujarat polls as it could not repeat it’s past performance. The party has blamed the AAP and the AIMIM for it.

General Secretary in-charge of communication Jairam Ramesh said, “Wherever the Congress is in a good position the AAP and the AIMIM with active support from the BJP is cutting into Congress votes.”

Congress leaders are privately admitting that without Ahmed Patel the Congress has suffered a lot as he had managed the Congress show in the state and the party was not in such a humiliating position. However, many leaders in the past have blamed Patel for the Congress’s weak performance in Gujarat in post 2002 elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in Gujarat with a landslide, winning 156 seats out of 182 with a 52.5 per cent vote share and breaking Congress leader Madhavsinh Solanki’s 1985 record of 149 seats with a 55.55 per cent vote share.

In 12 districts, the Congress was totally wiped out.

The AAP appears to have damaged the Congress on a large scale, and also the BJP on a few seats. However, the AIMIM was rejected by the Muslim voters. Three BJP rebels were elected, but 16 others were shown the door by the voters.

Out of its 48 sitting MLAs, 40 lost the elections and only 8 have got re-elected. As the Congress did not get 10 per cent seats in the Assembly, it might not get the Leader of Opposition’s post. The AAP has polled some 40 lakh votes which has dented the Congress majorly.