Gujarat result a win for Congress; Rahul's campaign well received: Gehlot

As the BJP appeared to be on its way to retain power in Gujarat, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Monday said he saw the results as a "victory" for the party due to the response its chief Rahul Gandhi's campaign got from the people.

Gehlot, the Congress election in-charge for Gujarat, said Gandhi ran a nice campaign in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Trends from 181 seats in the state, gave the BJP a lead in over a 100 seats while the Congress was following with 69. The simple majority mark in the 182-member Assembly is 92.
 

The Congress, however, appears to be on its way to improve its 2012 tally.

"The way the Congress campaigned and the way Rahul Gandhi did bus trips, we put up a very nice campaign. Whatever the results, the country will see this as the Congress' victory," Gehlot said.

"Through the campaigning and manifesto, we have been successful in reflecting the feelings of the people of Gujarat and we believe we have been successful in that," he said.

To a question, Gehlot said the saffron party tried to turn the direction of the campaign by raising the 'son of the soil' issue.

"The BJP tried to turn the campaign in another direction by its 'son of the soil' comments and saying that he (Modi) is a prime minister from Gujarat. We have given a very nice message to the people of Gujarat," he said.

He said it is not the culture of the Congress to make such comments.

"Rahulji (Gandhi) had said that Congress people will not make such commments against the prime minister. The manner in which the prime minister made comments against Manmohan Singhji, Soniaji and Rahulji, we did not want to respond to them in the same language," he said.