The Congress party sprung a surprise on Thursday as it improved its Lok Sabha rally despite Exit Polls predicting a complete rout for the grand old party. At the time of this report being prepared, the Congress was leading in 100 seats across the country, provided a much needed push for the INDIA alliance.
What also must have come as a pleasant surprise for the Congress is victory in 2 seats in Gujarat. Congress won a Lok Sabha seat in the western state after a drought of 10 years. Congress's Geniben Thakor emerged victorious from the Banakantha seat.
Incidentally, Banaskantha happens to be the native place of industrialist Gautam Adani, who Congress has been targetting over 'crony capitalism' by PM Modi. Banaskantha is also where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the 'buffalo' remark during his campaign in lead up to the Lok Sabha election. The remark had gone viral in the aftermath and led to trolling of the Prime Minister.
The Congress party had won 11 seats from Gujarat in 2009 Lok Sabha elections. However, it was swept away by the Modi magic in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and could not even win a single seat. It has, however, made a comeback in Gujarat with 2 seats- Anand and Banaskantha.