The Shiv Sena today said the people were not happy with the BJP in Gujarat, going by the trends of the Assembly election counting. The BJP appeared to be on its way to retain power in the state, with trends from 182 seats giving it a lead in 101 and 3 wins while the Congress followed with 71 and one win.. The simple majority mark in the 182-member Assembly is 92.


BJP's Babubhai Bokhiriya won Porbandar Assembly seat, defeating Congress' Arjun Modhvadia by a margin of 1,855 votes. BJP's candidate Suresh Bhardwaj defeated Independent Harish Janartha in Shimla seat by 1,903 votes while in Anni, BJP's Kishori Lal beats Cong's Paras Ram 5,983 votes.

"We (the BJP) came to power in the country by citing the much-touted 'Gujarat model' (of development). If people in Gujarat are not happy (with the BJP) today, then understand their psyche, understand what people in the country feel," Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.


"The (BJP should) understand the mindset of people of Gujarat (and) the reason the people there are not happy," he said. The Rajya Sabha member claimed that the Narendra Modi-led government had not registered success on a single issue, be it on security, Kashmir, Pakistan, note ban, unemployment or farmer suicides. "This is what I gather from the Gujarat election results," Raut said.

Raut's remarks came on a day the Sena, BJP's bickering ally, heaped praise on Rahul Gandhi, lauding the newly appointed Congress president for "fighting the Gujarat poll battle without bothering about the result".


The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said the 47-year-old Amethi MP has taken over the reins of the grand old party at a crucial stage. "Rahul Gandhi has accepted the responsibility as Congress president at a crucial stage. There should be no objection in wishing him all the best," said an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.


Image: BJP's Vijay Goel tweets this picture of people signing the Victory Wall at the party HQ at 10, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.