Click to play videoAhmedabad: On the second and last phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections, a newspaper advertisement showed Chief Minister Narendra Modi performing puja with his shoes on while senior BJP leader LK Advani was depicted enjoying a cultural programme wearing an Islamic prayer cap during his controversial visit to Pakistan.
The headline was even more embarrassing for the saffron party as it asked the electorates not to vote for Modi because he had hurt religious sentiments.
But as the second phase of polling wrapped up in central and north Gujarat, the focus quickly shifted from the rebels and dissident groups like Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti to whether Moditva will still sweep these parts.
"The people of the state are themselves fighting this election to decide the future of Gujarat. I am confident that it will be a historic win for the BJP,” Modi said.
However, these BJP claims are hollow says the Congress, whose renewed confidence is from its recent electoral gains.
In the last Lok Sabha polls in 2004, the Congress won a majority 58 seats, but over the last decade, the BJP has pocketed most of the 95 seats, which went to polls on Sunday.
The party has been at its best whenever an emotional issue has emerged as a focal point of elections, something which doesn’t hold this time around.
“People of Gujarat are peace loving. This is the land of Mahatma Gandhi. They will vote for Congress because they are fed up with the BJP,” Congress leader, Shankarsihn Vaghela said.
In the 2002 elections, central Gujarat clearly emerged as a BJP bastion but the challenge for the party is to maintain the same lead in the 2007 polls. But the low voter turnout in urban areas is making the BJP nervous and this could turn the tables for the saffron party.
(With inputs from Meghdoot Sharon and Prachi Jatania)
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