Gujarat Election: In BJP’s poor show in Saurashtra did rural distress play part?

BJP has secured a fifth term in Gujarat and put an end to anti-incumbency fears. But it would surely be getting into introspection mode after a dismal performance in the Saurashtra Kutch region.

Rural voters have always been Congress’ favoured votebank and Rahul Gandhi’s pre-poll promise of waiving off farm loans was an attempt to endear itself to the rural population which had faced the brunt of demonetisation.

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As per a First Post report, farmers sowing cotton in Amreli were miffed with PM Narendra Modi for not raising cotton prices. The scars of the drought in 2016 have also not healed and with Hardik Patel proving to be their voice, they realised it was time to vote for Congress.

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“Modi has brazenly ignored us. It is time to topple the government. To be honest, I do not like Congress, but I want to vote BJP out of power," Bhupad Koladiya, a farmer from Jhinjuda village, had told First Post.

Congress has gained with 31 seats in this region and the caste coalition strategy stitched by the party seems to have worked.

The impact of the Patidar agitation also had an adverse effect on the BJP’s electoral prospects in this region.

Like earlier polls, the urban areas have proved to be the BJP’s saviour as PM Narendra Modi’s charisma and the party’s development plank still finds resonance among urban and middle-class voters.