In Gujarat election, Gehlot emerges the winner

Jaipur  :  With the Congress party's good showing in Gujarat, Ashok Gehlot, the former Rajasthan Chief Minister and AICC General Secretary who was in-charge of the state, has proved his political acumen and increased his standing in the party by running a strategy that made the assembly election a closely-fought battle.

Political observers credit Gehlot for the tough fight the Congress gave the BJP in Gujarat. "It has put Gehlot in the league of senior political strategists and national leaders of the Congress," Prakash Bhandari, a veteran journalist and keen political observer, told IANS.

Gehlot took hundreds of his close aides and supporters to Gujarat and gave them the responsibility to campaign in the state.

"When Gehlot was given charge, the Congress was facing a difficult period in Gujarat. The party workers were demoralised and the party had a weak organisation, and above all it was fighting against the ruling BJP in Modi-Shah's stronghold. But Gehlot managed to overcome all the challenges with his experience and skills and fought the battle quite successfully. This clearly shows his political skills," Bhandari said.

Echoing similar views, Mahesh Sharma, a political observer, said that Gehlot who was living in obscurity after a major defeat by the BJP in the 2013 Rajasthan Assembly elections has suddenly emerged as one of strategists the Congress can look up to. He was the one who for the benefit of the party, brought three young leaders, Hardik Patel, Alapesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani with the Congress.

According to Sharma, Gehlot was also instrumental in portraying the soft Hindutva image of the party by taking Rahul Gandhi to various temples across the state.

"Gehlot is a mass leader and an astute ground level politician. In Gujarat, he has proved this again. He is a commoner, but look at the kind of canvassing he did in Gujarat.. He went door-to-door, distributed pamphlets himself in some of the areas of the state and requested people to vote for the Congress. Have you ever seen a two-time Chief Minister of a state doing this," Rajeev Arora, a senior Congress leader, asked while speaking to IANS.

Arora said that Gehlot is easily approachable and listens and gives time to workers. He spends time with them and that is why he has a large force of loyal workers and leaders with him who were with him 24X7 in Gujarat for the last few months.

"He has a clean image and there is no other leader in the Congress party in Rajasthan who can come even a bit closer when it comes to attracting crowds, and he proved this in Gujarat too," a Congress functionary said.

After the Gujarat results, Gehlot in a tweet had aptly said: "As per people's perception Gujarat Election Results are neither BJP's victory nor Congress' defeat....despite such a result, people are congratulating us. The Congress party has given a tough fight to BJP in Modi Ji n Amit Shah Ji's home state... BJP's countdown has begun."