Modi's 5 ministers, top Cong leaders, rebel taste bitter defeat

Narendra Modi's four Cabinet ministers, Congress top leaders and a rebel tasted bitter defeat, losing by heavy margin in the Gujarat Assembly polls:

Dileep Sanghani: Agriculture Minister lost to a young Congress candidate Paresh Dhanani by huge margin of 29,839 votes in Amreli. Only couple of months before the elections, corruption scams surfaced against him even as a section of BJP Amreli unit was reportedly not happy with the minister. A Rs 400-crore scam in land, grant allotments and subsidy were levelled by local RTI activist Nathala Sukhadiya, who also contested as Independent from the same seat. 34-year-old Dhanani had emerged giant killer in 2002 also when he had defeated BJP heavyweight Purshottam Rupala on the same seat.

Jaynarayan Vyas: Tourism Minister and spokesperson of the Narendra Modi government, who had sensed the defeat soon after polling, had announced his resignation surprisingly on eve of results. Vyas, considered one of few technocrat in the government, had won by slim margin of about 2000 votes in 2007 and this time was in trouble post delimitation that changed demographic equations of Siddhpur constituency as the new demography has more Kshartiya dominance. Congress candidate Balwantsinh Rajput won from here by a good margin of 25,824

Fakir Vaghela: Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Fakir Vaghela, who contested from Vadgam constituency, lost due to anti-incumbency. He reportedly didn't utilise over 60 per cent of grant to construct Ambedkar Bhavans in talukas of the state. Congress candidate Manilal Vaghela won by 21,839 votes

Praful Patel: He was made home minister after his predecessor Amit Shah had to step down following chargsheet in Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case. Defeat to Congress candidate Rajendrasinh Chavda by over 14,070 votes in Himmatnagar indicates strong anti-incumbency wave against him.

Kiritsinh Rana: Among junior ministers, minister of state for Forest and Environment Kiritsinh Rana put up a brave fight but ultimately lost to sitting Congress MP Soma Ganda by a margin of 1,561 votes from Limbdi Assembly seat in Surendranagar district.

... contd.

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