Gujarat bypolls: CM taunts Congress for going to resort amid Covid-19, party hits back

During Rajya Sabha polls, a total of 8 Congress MLAs resigned, out of which six joined BJP. To stop further defections, Congress had to take its MLAs to Jaipur

Hitting the campaign for the ensuing Assembly bypolls, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday attacked Congress in an election rally claiming that instead of being with the people when coronavirus pandemic broke out earlier this year, the opposition party leaders were "drinking liquor and taking a dip in swimming pools in a resort in Jaipur."

Rupani was speaking at the rally while campaigning for party's Abdasa Assembly seat candidate Pradyumansinh Jadeja in Kutch district. Jadeja is among the five BJP candidates who left Congress earlier this year in the run up to Rajya Sabha polls helping the BJP glean three out of four seats despite not having required numbers.

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During the election time, a total of eight Congress MLAs resigned, out of which six joined BJP. To stop further defections, the Congress had to take its MLAs to Jaipur.

Referring to the same, Rupani said that "Congress leaders never work for the betterment of people and during crisis they run away when needed. Earlier, they had run away to Bengaluru resort."

He claimed that when the coronavirus pandemic started spreading and created fear among the people, his "goverment did everything to help people while Congress leaders ran awy."

He said, "To ensure that people didn't face hardship, goverment took all effort. But Congress leaders were nowhere to be seen."

The Congress hit back with data of illicit liquor trade busted in the state to say how "corrupt" the ruling BJP government is under whose rule liquor flows so easily in the state despite prohibition. In a statement, the Congress alleged that "BJP has been strangulating the democracy by buying legislatures to win elections."

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As the campaign heats up for the polls to be held on November 3, the Congress has also launched an aggresive campaign against the BJP. It has termed five of its turncoats, contesting on BJP tickets, as "Gaddar" (traitors). The result of the bypolls will not alter Rupani government in any manner, but it is widely perceived as a contest of prestige, specially for the BJP which chose defectors instead of its own workers.

For Congress, winning majority of the seats will only boast party morale in the civic body polls next year and eventually in 2022 Assembly polls. Besides these two parties, the result is set to affect at least two of its leaders- Gujarat BJP president C R Patil and Congress's state working president Hardik Patel. This is the first election after their appointments to the post.