Congress leader Mumtaz Patel on Monday said the party in Gujarat is experiencing a rapid revival and restructuring phase, even though it could not win the recent by-elections held for two Assembly constituencies.
Patel expressed hope that future results would be more favourable for the party as it continues rebuilding with fresh leadership and new faces.
Speaking to the media after the results, Patel stated, "I would like to congratulate Gopal Italia on his victory in the election. In the by-election today, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party have retained their seats. Congress has won in Kerala and the TMC in West Bengal. The Gujarat Congress organisation is being rebuilt, new faces are being introduced, and Congress is in full-speed revival mode. We are hoping that things will be different from now on."
The by-elections were held in Gujarat's Kadi and Visavadar Assembly constituencies. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gopal Italia, a former state party president, won from Visavadar against the BJP's Kirit Patel by a margin of 17,554 votes.
Italia secured a total of 75,942 votes. BJP’s Rajendrakumar (Rajubhai) Daneshwar Chavda won in Kadi.
The Visavadar seat in Junagadh district became vacant following the resignation of Bhayani Bhupendrabhai Gandubhai. It falls under the Junagadh Lok Sabha constituency.
AAP workers in Gujarat celebrated following Italia’s emphatic victory. AAP’s Gujarat chief Anup Sharma said the people of Visavadar had seen through the BJP’s “false promises” and called the result a collective triumph for all AAP members.
“This is a 'khasa tamasha' for the BJP by the people of Gujarat,” Sharma told ANI, adding that the momentum would continue to build.
Welcoming the bypoll results, AAP national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people of Gujarat and Punjab. “The people have clearly rejected both the BJP and Congress in constituencies such as Visavadar and Ludhiana West,” he said.
Gujarat AAP chief Isudan Gadhvi also hailed the Visavadar result as a sign of growing public support for the party.
He described the win as a victory for the farmers, labourers, and unemployed youth of the region. Gadhvi claimed the result signals the beginning of AAP’s rise in Gujarat and positioned his party — not Congress — as the real challenger to the BJP’s decades-long dominance in the state.
Posting on the social media platform X, AAP Gujarat expressed its gratitude, stating, “Many thanks to the people of Visavadar, Bhensan, and Junagadh villages for choosing the politics of work of the Aam Aadmi Party.”
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