The Congress had given a tough fight to the BJP in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, securing 77 seats, while the BJP had settled for less than 100 seats after a long time. Even though the Congress could not reach power, but it did leave a mark under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. In such a situation, it was believed that she can give a tough fight in 2022, but her position seems to be weakening as the elections approach. Since 2017, 13 former and sitting MLAs have left the party. Apart from this, BJP is also eyeing a leader like Hardik Patel. These circumstances have once again put the Congress in the pre-2017 assembly elections, when it slipped even after besieging the BJP.
The Congress had to face the exodus of 15 MLAs in 2017. These leaders included veteran leader Shankar Singh Vaghela, who had been the Chief Minister of the state. Not only this, Ahmed Patel had to face a very tough contest for his Rajya Sabha seat, although he managed to win by a close margin. Even though Vaghela had not joined the BJP during that time, 14 other MLAs had joined the saffron party. It is being said that this time this number may be even higher. A senior BJP leader says that many more MLAs may leave the Congress and join the party in the coming days.
Let us tell you that after 2017, the first setback to the Congress was when 5 MLAs left the Congress. Apart from this, two MLAs had died and then by-elections were held in 7 seats, in which BJP has won 4 and Congress has won 3. One of these OBC MLA Alpesh Thakor had also left the Congress and joined the BJP, but he had to face defeat in the Radhanpur seat by-election. Against him, Raghu Desai of Congress got victory. However, in 2020, under the leadership of BJP’s newly elected state president CR Patil, by-elections were held in 8 seats, all of which were won by the BJP. In this way, the number of BJP in the present assembly is 111.
Ahmedabad-based Achyut Yagnik said about the condition of Congress, ‘Congress seems to be weakening continuously. Necessary action is not being taken by the leadership. The situation is not good, especially at the state level. BJP has a strong organization on the ground and it has been getting good support from the RSS on the ground as well. Congress once had an organization named Seva Dal, but now it is not as active as that. Yagnik said the BJP is in power and leaders who have left the Congress are confident that it will remain in power for a long time.