Congress' string of wins in Gurdaspur, Vengara, Nanded a good omen for Rahul Gandhi?
Before Rahul Gandhi takes over as Congress president, the party has registered impressive wins in Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll and Nanded municipal corporation.
Congress' stunning victory in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastion of Gurdaspur, and that too by a record margin of 1.93 lakh votes, comes at a time when Rahul Gandhi is likely to take over as party president.
The Gurdaspur victory is significant as BJP MP Vinod Khanna won the seat three times consecutively in 1998, 1999 and 2004, losing out to Congress' Partap Singh Bajwa in 2009 by a slim margin and then again winning it in 2014.
On Sunday, Congress' Sunil Jakhar polled nearly 5 lakh votes while rival BJP's Swaran Salaria got a little over 3 lakh votes, despite the former being called an 'outsider' by many in Punjab's political circles.
Congratulations to @sunilkjakhar ji for his impressive win in #Gurdaspur bypoll, it's a victory for @INCPunjab policies & development agenda- Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) October 15, 2017
The Gurdaspur win came along with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) winning the bypoll in Vengara Assembly in Kerala. KNA Khader of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) defeated CPM's P P Basheer by a margin of 23,310 votes.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu called the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll win a "beautiful Diwali gift" for the party's "would-be president Rahul Gandhi". Sidhu said the win will be a shot in the arm for the Congress.
DUSU RESULTS SPARKED CONGRESS REVIVAL TALKS
Before the Gurdaspur victory, talks of a revival started when the Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) won the top two posts of president and vice-president in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election in September.
The DUSU win was unexpected and dealt a big blow to the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which had to remain content with secretary and joint secretary positions. In 2016, ABVP had won three of the four posts in the DUSU elections while NSUI won one.
In the Rajasthan University students' polls last month in Jaipur, ABVP rebel Pawan Yadav won the president's post while NSUI grabbed the vice-president and general secretary's positions. The ABVP candidate managed to win the joint secretary's post. The Congress-backed NSUI also won the students' elections at Panjab University, bagging three of the four posts.
Panjab University team met @INCIndia Vice President Shri Rahul Gandhi late evening today after the emphatic victory in PUSU elections. pic.twitter.com/ta86ohC5dT- NSUI (@nsui) September 8, 2017
STRONG LOCAL LEADERSHIP SWAYS IT FOR CONGRESS
After an impressive show in students' elections, the Congress backed it up with a convincing win in Nanded-Waghala Municipal Corporation where it has been in power for the last 15 years.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan led the Congress to a big win in the Nanded Municipal Corporation despite the BJP's all-out poll campaign in the region, which included a rally by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The party won 73 of the 81 seats in Nanded while the BJP managed six seats.
The consecutive wins in the last one week show that with a strong local leadership in place--Amarinder Singh in Punjab and Ashok Chavan in Nanded--the Congress can defeat the BJP and that too with a huge margin.
My heartiest congratulations to @INCMaharashtra on their stellar performance in Nanded Municipal Corporation Election https://t.co/zqSmwYWlU5- Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 13, 2017
A BIG BOOST FOR RAHUL GANDHI BEFORE GUJARAT TEST
The recent wins in Gurdaspur and Vengara will boost the confidence of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
For the ruling BJP, which has faced heavy criticism from the Opposition on issues like demonetisation of high-value currency and hurried implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the losses perhaps reflect the electoral sentiment across the country. For the Congress, however, the wins are a good sign before Rahul Gandhi takes over the mantle of party president from mother Sonia Gandhi.
Senior Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy said, "In Nanded, Kerala and Punjab together... the Congress is on its way back," said Reddy and added that the results also point at the "declining trend of the NDA". "It is also a good omen for (the Congress) in both Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat," he said.
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