Ahmed Patel’s dramatic win: Lessons for Congress and BJP
What was supposed to be a political coup by Amit Shah in his home turf Gujarat ironically turned into a massive morale booster for the Congress when Ahmed Patel, political advisor to AICC president Mrs Sonia Gandhi, pulled off a stunning victory in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Throughout Tuesday, it was a battle of nerves between the BJP and the Congress, a ding-dong battle of nerves between the ruling BJP and the Congress, with the matter ending up at the doors of the Election Commission in Delhi over the invalidation of two votes of the Congress rebels. It was around midnight that the EC ruled in favour of the Congress and in the counting that followed, Ahmed Patel barely scraped through. Those two votes of the Congress rebels turned the tables against the BJP which may be planning to take the battle to the Supreme Court.
For the BJP, which had pulled out all stops to defeat Patel, the results came as an anti-climax and a personal setback for national party chief Amit Shah. If Patel had not snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, Shah would have been feted as a giant killer having scalped one of the top guns of the Congress since it would have been seen as Modi’s successful ‘surgical strike’ at the very top of the Opposition pyramid. It would have been demoralising for the Congress at a time when the Gujarat Assembly polls are just a few months away.
The victory of Patel, however, has acquired a totally different connotation. He is now being seen as the Congress strategist and Gandhi family loyalist who withstood the might of the Modi-Shah assault to emerge a winner. It is a huge morale booster for the Congress and for Patel as well since he has emerged stronger and more powerful from the ordeal.
The immediate fallout will be that Patel will exercise total sway over the affairs of the party in Gujarat, even in the selection of candidates for the Assembly polls in the state. Patel will also gain prominence within Sonia’s inner circle.
Patel’s victory is also being seen as a huge setback for Shankersinh Vaghela and his supporters. At one point, it was believed that the Congress without Vaghela would be wiped out in Gujarat. No longer.