Narendra Modi set for a hat-trick in Gujarat

Dec 20, 2012 |

New Delhi

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The ruling BJP appeared set to perform a hat-trick in Gujarat while trends reversed in favour of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh where it could wrest power from the saffron party. Trends from the counting of votes that began this morning projected Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi capturing power for the third consecutive time.

Latest TV projection show the BJP leading in as many as 115 seats while the Congress was leading in 62.

In the 182-member Assembly, the BJP had won 117 in the last elections in 2007 while the Congress got 59. Fortunes changed for the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, where it was projected as trailing the ruling BJP. The Congress is leading with 37 seats while the BJP was ahead in 25 in the 68-member Assembly. 'Others' led in four.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was leading in Maninagar. Both the Pradesh Congress Committee chief and the its legislature party leader Arjun Modhwadia and Shaktisinh Gohil were trailing.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the victory in Gujarat polls "makes Narenda Modi unstoppable in the BJP. He is very important chief minister for the BJP but that has nothing to do with his national acceptability".

The Congress, which had been hoping to unseat chief minister Narendra Modi, was ahead in 67 of the total 182 seats.

The Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) of former BJP chief minister Keshubhai Patel appeared to be on the winning track in three places.

"There is every indication that the BJP is coming back to power in Gujarat," asserted party spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman.

Before the vote count started across the state at 8 am, Modi confidant Amit Shah asserted that the BJP was sure to bag a two-thirds majority in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly.

The GPP said the Congress should have allied with it. GPP leader Gordhan Zadaphia said a GPP-Congress alliance could have ousted Modi, who has ruled Gujarat since 2001 and who tweeted Thursday in the run up to the vote count: "No need to look behind."

Exit polls have predicted a massive win for the BJP in Gujarat. Political pundits have said that a widely predicted Modi win -- the third time he would be taking the BJP to victory in Gujarat -- could have him playing a larger role in national politics.

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