While Narendra Modi might be heading for a hat-trick in Gujarat, Sanand, home for his ambitious development projects, has voted against him.
BJP candidate Kamabhai Gagjibhai Rathod has lost to Congress' candidate Karamsibhai Virjibhai Patel by a margin of over 4,000 votes.
Congress had taken the fight in the Sanand seat seriously, as senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had campaigned for his party at Sanand on December 11. Rahul had countered the chief minister's claims on development by calling the former a 'marketer' who does not listen to people's voices.
Sanand had catapulted to the league of global automobile hubs during Modi's reign, after he brought the Tata Motors Nano project to the area in 2008. A slew of automobile manufacturers followed, including US-based Ford and Europe's PSA Peugeot Citroen, who bought land in the area to set up manufacturing facilities. A host of FMCG, pharmaceutical, engineering companies parked their projects at Sanand.
