No early elections in Gujarat, Amit Shah indicates

BJP president Amit Shah today indicated that contrary to the speculations, the Gujarat assembly elections will be held only towards the year-end and not earlier.
"Be ready to welcome the 'Vijay Rath' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November," he told BJP workers here.
"After travelling to various parts of the country, the BJP's Vijay Rath (victory chariot) under the leadership of Modi is set to come to Gujarat in November," he said.
"Let us all resolve to achieve a thumping victory and take Modi's victory chariot further to Odisha from Gujarat," said Shah.
Congress leaders Bharatsinh Solanki and Shankersinh Vaghela had recently claimed on many occasions that the state assembly polls would be held in April or May, though they are due in December 2017.

Taking a dig at the Congress' slogan that "Congress is coming," Shah said, "... But the people are saying the Congress is going."

Reminding the opposition of BJP's track record of winning elections in the Prime Minister's home state, Shah said, "The BJP has never lost a single assembly or Lok Sabha election in Gujarat since 1990.
"The Congress, however, starts daydreaming as soon as the election approaches, and their dreams always get shattered on the day of counting," he said.
"After the poll results of five states their dream has been shattered even before the counting day here. The Congress says it is coming, but people are saying 'Congress is going'," the BJP chief said.

The gathering had been organised by the state BJP to felicitate Shah on his first visit to his home state after the election results in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere.
He urged the workers to aim for 150-plus seats in Gujarat (out of the total 182).
"...We are making a resolution here to get 150-plus seats," he said.
Shah termed the Aam Aadmi Party, which is trying to make inroads in Gujarat, as a "mushroom".
"This party pops up like a mushroom only during polls and then vanishes. They fielded 432 candidates in Lok Sabha polls and won four seats," he recalled.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and state BJP chief Jitubhai Vaghani were among those present.