BJP lawmaker Sanjay Kakade had claimed that BJP won't win enough seats to form the government in Gujarat
BJP lawmaker Sanjay Kakade, who made headlines for predicting a dismal show for his party in the Gujarat elections, had to retract his statement after BJP is set to emerge as a comfortable winner in the state poll results today.
An embarrassed Mr Kakade said he had not factored in the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "charisma" while making the pronouncement. "We forgot to take into account the Modi charisma. Neither me nor my team factored that in our survey," the Rajya Sabha member told reporters at Pune. "Modi charisma did the trick," Mr Kakade said after it became clear that the BJP was set to retain power in PM's home state.
Asked if his pronouncement amounted to anti-party activity, the lawmaker said, "I had not said anything against the party".
Last week, despite most exit poll surveys predicting a BJP win in the Gujarat Assembly polls, Sanjay Kakade had claimed that the party would not win enough seats to form the government in the state.
"Forget absolute majority, the party will not even get enough number of seats to form the government. The Congress on the other hand will reach close to the majority mark. If at all the party retains power in the state, it will be only because of Narendra Modi," he had claimed.
Mr Kakade had claimed that his team conducted a survey in Gujarat and that his claim was based on the outcome of that survey. "I had sent a team of six people to Gujarat. They mostly covered rural part of the state where they met farmers, drivers, waiters and labourers. Based on their survey and my own observation, I feel the BJP will not get an absolute majority in Gujarat," he had earlier said.