The Aftershocks ; the Gujarat Results Are a Major Setback to the Congress and Have Thrown a Lifeline to Bjp. With General Elections a Year Away, the Implications for the Two Parties Could Be Decisive.
India Today › January 07, 2008
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Summary
It was a study in contrast. For the Congress, it was a grim Christmas at the party headquarters where the mood was strictly non- festive, with the country's oldest political party trying to come to terms with its latest electoral drubbing. In a year that saw the Congress lose Punjab and Uttarakhand with a poor show in Uttar Pradesh, the Gujarat defeat was clearly the last straw. The news from Himachal Pradesh, which also went to the polls recently, was not very encouraging either. For these very reasons, however, BJP celebrated Christmas with all the fervour of Diwali, with firecrackers, trademark ladoos and a Hindutva icon. Politically, the Gujarat results have come as manna from heaven and perhaps even given the party another prime ministerial candidate after L.K. Advani. What do the results really mean for both the parties?
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The Aftershocks ; the Gujarat Results Are a Major Setback to the Congress and Have Thrown a Lifeline to Bjp. With General Elections a Year Away, the Implications for the Two Parties Could Be Decisive.
It was the proverbial morning after. The very next day after the Gujarat results came in, Congress President Sonia Gandhi reviewed the results with over a dozen Central and state party leaders at her residence. Before the fingerpointing could begin, she set the tone by talking about "collective responsibility". The blame game was off the table. Curiously, the usually vocal Congressmen, so adept at passing the buck in defeat, kept silent even after they left the venue. The Gujarat campaign, led by Sonia's blitzkrieg of 13 rallies and managed by the all-powerful Ahmad Patel, was too live-wire an issue to risk making accusations over. Defence Minister and key Sonia aide A.K. Antony reminded the assembled leaders ...
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