Gandhinagar, July 21 (Inditop.com) Gujarat’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) suffered a setback as the Congress defeated it in civic polls in Junagadh city Tuesday.
The Congress won 26 seats in the 51-member Junagadh Municipal Corporation, while the BJP could manage to win only 21 seats in the key city of Saurashtra region. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a relatively new party in the region, won three seats while an independent was also elected.
BJP leaders here blamed the loss on overconfidence of the party leadership including Chief Minister Narendra Modi who did not campaign for the polls.
Moreover, the BJP had denied the ticket to 24 of its 30 sitting corporators and went for fresh faces.
As about 20 percent of the population in Junagadh, about 400 km from here, are Muslims, the BJP had fielded five Muslim candidates, all of whom lost to their Congress rivals.
rounak