Rout in Bihar ended BJP's Gujarat model: Ahmed Patel

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today said the drubbing suffered by the BJP in Bihar Assembly elections marked the "end" of the "so-called" Gujarat model.
Taking a dig at the saffron party, Patel said, "Two things may look appealing but don't last long. They are jalebi (a sweet) made from poorly cooked oil and the BJP's Gujarat model. The shelf life of their model has ended with the conclusion of Bihar elections".
He said the poll results in Bihar and Delhi underline the "decline" of the BJP.
Terming the forthcoming local bodies elections in Gujarat as a "semi-final" to the 2017 Assembly polls, Patel said the Anandiben Patel government is on its way out of power in the state.

"It is not just in Bihar but the BJP has also been wiped out in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's (Lok Sabha) constituency of Varanasi in recently-held elections to the local bodies," the senior Congress leader told PTI.
"The PM, who used to tweet even if his party won a stray local body election, remained silent when the defeat struck his own backyard...Time has come for the people of Gujarat to bid good bye to their (BJP's) model," he said.

While six municipal corporations--Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar--will go to polls on November 22, elections to 31 district panchayats, 230 taluka panchayats and 56 municipalities will take place on November 29. Counting of votes will be done on December 2.

Patel said the NDA's claim of developing as many as 100 towns as smart cities in future is actually the "smart real estate cities of Gujarat".
"Those who ruled Gujarat for the past 20 years could not build even a single smart city in the state and they are now talking about building 100 smart cities across the country in next five years," he said sarcastically.
"Under the name of smart city, they will take away power of local bodies and form a company that will manage the entire area of about 50 acres of land which will be smart real estate and will make money (sic)," he said.

Patel also questioned the imposition of the 'Swachh Bharat' cess.
The Congress leader said "mis-governance" by the BJP
in the last two decades is a major poll issue in Gujarat.
"They have repackaged this misrule and given it the name of the Gujarat model," he said, adding that the state is now lagging behind on parameters like healthcare, education, employment and economy.
He said as many as 50,000 posts are lying vacant in the police department in Gujarat.
Responding to a query whether the Congress fomented the Patel quota stir, the leader said, "It's the delusion of BJP leaders. The real cause behind the agitation was lack of employment opportunities, slowdown in rural areas etc."

"'Ache din' are yet to come for over 40,000 workers who have lost their jobs in Surat's diamond polishing units. Those in agriculture too are facing hardships due to low minimum support price, higher input prices, an insensitive government and climatic uncertainties.
"In south Gujarat, not a single sugar factory has released salaries. The sugar crisis in Saurashtra region has affected over 4.5 lakh families," Patel said.
He added that the BJP has "shied away" from releasing its manifesto for forthcoming elections due to their "failure" in keeping up with the promises.