BJP May Lose Gujarat Elections, Says Raj Thackeray

Thane: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has said that the BJP may lose the upcoming elections in Gujarat and if the party crosses 150 seats in the state it should be considered a miracle by the EVMs.

"The recent trends as well as reports indicate that the ruling party is likely to lose the elections," Mr Thackeray said.

"Some visuals of Modi's public meetings are doing the round, which show that people are leaving the venue in groups during his address, which had never happened in the past. Even from this, one gets a message," he said.

Despite this, if the BJP gets more than 150 seats, it should be considered a miracle by the electronic voting machines (EVMs), he said.

Election to the 182-member Assembly in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14, and the results will be declared on December 18.

Mr Thackeray also alleged that the Election Commission had "inordinately" delayed the announcement of Gujarat election dates under a lot of pressure.

"The Election Commission and other statutory bodies should work independently. But it does not happen here," he said.

Mr Thackeray also credited PM Narendra Modi's victory in the last Lok Sabha polls to Rahul Gandhi and said the Congress leader's mocking of the then Gujarat chief minister did not go down well with voters.

"Fifty per cent credit for Narendra Modi's victory in the 2014 general elections goes to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. The way he mocked Modi during the campaign, helped the latter win the polls," Mr Thackeray said.

Of the rest, 15 per cent was due to the social media, around 10-20 per cent credit would go to the BJP workers and also the RSS and the remaining was because of PM Modi's personal charisma, he said.

(With Inputs From PTI)