Ahmedabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday declared that his party was confident of taking power in Gujarat and said the BJP was on a losing wicket.
"The BJP has lost its position," Gandhi told the media, a day after he was named the President of the country's oldest political party.
"After the first phase voting in the state (December 9), we are confident that we are going to form the government here," he said.
The second and final phase of the Gujarat Assembly election is due on Thursday. The results will be out on December 18.
Gandhi attacked both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over what he said was their silence on corruption.
"Earlier Modiji used to talk about corruption everywhere. But since we raised the issues of Jay Shah (BJP President Amit Shah's son) and the Rafale defence deal (with France), he stopped talking about corruption," the Congress leader said.
He alleged that the BJP's rule of Gujarat had only helped a few.
"In the last 22 years, Modiji and (Chief Minister Vijay) Rupaniji have initiated only one-sided development here, the one only for 5 to 10 people. Not everyone has been given their due."
"In the last 22 years Modi-Ji and Rupani-ji (Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani) have initiated only one-sided development in Ahmedabad, the one only for 5-10 people. Not everyone has been given their rights. Whenever I went to a temple I just prayed for a 'Sunehra Bhavishya' for the people of Gujarat, a better development here. Is it wrong to go to a temple?
"Jahan mauka milta hai vahan mandir jaata hoon, Kedarnath bhi gaya tha, Vo kya Gujarat mein hai? Whenever I get an opportunity I go to a temple. I had visited Kedarnath too. Is that in Gujarat?" asks Rahul Gandhi on people linking his temple visits to the elections. Unfazed by the criticism of the BJP over his temple visits in Gujarat, Gandhi on Tuesday visited the Jagannath Temple in Ahmedabad and offered prayers. According to the temple's priest Dilip Das, Rahul performed pooja (obeisance) as per the traditional rituals of the temple and sought Lord Jagannath's blessings.
