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Updated: Dec 19, 2017 21:16 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Tuesday that there was a “big question” on the credibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Gujarat election results, which saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party holding on to power in the western state but with a decreased seat tally. (LIVE UPDATES)

The BJP has suffered a massive jolt in Gujarat, said the newly elected Congress president who spearheaded an aggressive campaign in PM Modi’s home state in the recently concluded assembly election.

The BJP won 99 seats in the 182-member Gujarat assembly, seven more than the majority mark of 92 needed to form a government though it lost 16 seats compared to the 2012 polls. The Congress, on the other hand, improved its tally --- up from 61 to 77. This victory was also the BJP’s narrowest in terms of vote share since it came to power in 1995.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, the 47-year-old Gandhi also said his party’s ‘hard work’ in Gujarat yielded results, criticising the campaign by PM Modi that is said to have given the BJP an advantage in the last leg.

“Three-four months back when we went to Gujarat, it was said the Congress party couldn’t fight the BJP. We did solid work for three-four months. Not just me, the AICC team and others. I found out people don’t believe in Modi ji’s Gujarat model. It’s hollow,” Gandhi said, referring to the much-talked-about Gujarat model of development.

“We could have won. There were some deficiencies.”

He said the people of Gujarat “taught me a lot” and sent a message to the BJP. “The main thing was: however much anger, money and force you have, it can be fought with love.”

Gandhi said Modi did not highlight the issue of Goods and Services Tax though the PM said “this was a election fought on development...this was a stamp on the GST”.

“What he is saying, his organisation is repeating but the nation is not listening to it,” Gandhi said.