• COOMI KAPOOR: Would you like to say something about the election results in Gujarat?

ARUN JAITLEY: Let’s begin with two facts. First, very few people realise that since 1985, the Congress has not won a majority in Gujarat, either in the Assembly or in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress has consistently lost every Assembly and Lok Sabha election. In five consecutive elections since 1990, Congress rivals — on four occasions the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and on one occasion the BJP and the Janata Dal — won nearly two-thirds of the Assembly seats. Except for West Bengal, the Congress has not had such a bad track record in any other state.

Second, people argue that in quite a few seats, the gap between the BJP and Congress is narrow this time. It is true that in central Gujarat — the rural part of central Gujarat — we didn’t do well. Traditionally, we’ve been weak there and the Congress has been strong. Other than central Gujarat, our lead in the rest of the state was close to 14 per cent. What does this lead mean in terms of parliamentary constituencies? In the Ahmedabad parliamentary constituency, this translates into a 3-lakh lead; in Gandhinagar, it translates into a 4-lakh lead. The lead in the Surat parliamentary constituency is about 5 lakh. So when you talk in terms of narrow leads, barring central Gujarat, the width is probably as large as it can be. Normally, if you win a Lok Sabha seat by one lakh to one and a half lakh votes, it is considered a wave.

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