Congress' Geniben Thakor.
Credit: X/@GenibenThakor
"It's a dream for me to see Congress back in power in Gujarat....Congress hoisting tricolour at Gujarat Assembly. The result of the Lok Sabha elections has shown that it is possible," said Geniben Thakor, the lone member of parliament (MP) of Congress in ten years, while addressing party leaders and workers in a function held to celebrate her victory in Ahmedabad.
The party leaders described her victory as "new hope" in the state that has been eluding it from power since 1995.
Thakor is the only Congress candidate who won the LS election from Banaskantha, blocking the BJP's hat-trick of clean sweep in the state. She has become the only Congress MP from Gujarat after a gap of ten years as BJP in 2014 and 2019 swept the state, winning all 26 seats.
"Ik baju dhanshakti hati ane biji baju janshakti (one side had money-power while the other side had people's power," Thakor, 48, claimed in her speech while thanking her party for giving her ticket and workers for rallying behind her during the campaigning. She said that for the first time in ten years, "a real voice from Gujarat" will be heard in the parliament.
Thakor's victory shadowed BJP's big victory in the state which bagged 25 seats. The ruling party termed her victory as "unfortunate." On Friday, Thakor tendered her resignation as an MLA from Vav constituency, Banaskantha, to Assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary in Gandhinagar.
At Congress headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan in Ahmedabad, she was welcomed by state leaders including party president Shaktisinh Gohil, among others. In the packed hall, she was greeted by the district presidents and other workers who had gathered to celebrate her victory.
Thakor narrated how she joined the Congress in 1995 and contest taluka panchayat election for the first time, when she was just 18 years old. Incidentally, Congress has remained out of power since then.
Known as firebrand grassroot leader, Thakor said that she became MLA for the first time in 2012. She said that in her political career she contested nine elections right from panchayat to parliament and won all except twice when she faced defeat.
State party leaders including Shaktisinh Gohil, Shailesh Parmar, among others, described her victory as a "new hope" for the party to do well in the upcoming local body elections. Khedbrahma MLA Tushar Chaudhary, who unsuccessfully contest LS polls from Sabarkantha seat, said that winning even one seat in Gujarat was "equal to defeating PM Narendra Modi."
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