Modi remains quiet on Patel’s jolt to BJP as he congratulated Shah, Irani on victory

PM Narendra Modi congratulated Amit Shah and Smriti Irani after they won Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat, however, he remained quiet on Ahmed Patel’s jolt to BJP.

New Delhi, August 9: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not only one of the most followed world leaders on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, but he is also one politician who loves to tweet to express his Mann ki Baat (Matters of Heart) on a regular basis.

That is why whenever something important happens and Modi remains missing from Twitter, his detractors are the first ones to pin-point the 'anomaly'.

On Wednesday, after the Gujarat Rajya Sabha election results were declared, Modi took on to Twitter to congratulate Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and union minister Smriti Irani on their victory.

This is what Modi tweeted: "Congratulations to BJP President @AmitShah & ministerial colleague @smritiirani on getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat."

Those were definitely encouraging words from the PM to his party colleagues. However, what struck the most is that Modi decided to remain quiet on the victory of Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who managed to fight the might of the BJP, to win one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, the voting for which were held on Tuesday.

Modi's "strategic" silence on Patel's victory is understandable as both the Congress and the BJP were involved in a "prestige battle" to win the Rajya Sabha seat from which Patel contested against the BJP's Balwantsinh Rajput.

Finally, Patel, the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He won the elections by getting 44 votes (the minimum votes to win the contest), after a series of dramatic events that unfolded on Tuesday, which started with the voting for the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat to the complaint filed by the Congress against two of its own men who not only cross-voted against the party, but foolishly showed their ballot papers to persons whom they were not supposed to be shown.

Based on the complaint filed by the Congress, the Election Commission (EC) decided to declare the two votes as invalid for violating the secrecy code. After the EC's decision, Patel had to get 44 votes instead of 45, which he somehow managed to win.

The contest for one Rajya Sabha seat in Gujarat saw a series of events which clearly indicated how important it was for the BJP to defeat Patel, a close-aide of the Gandhi family.

The BJP desperately wanted to vanquish Patel with the hope to further weaken the already sinking boat of the Congress. Patel is a politician who certainly is not very media savvy, but is a man who works backstage and known to strategise every move of the party.

By defeating Patel, the BJP was hoping to hit the Congress the hardest. It was Shah himself who was overseeing the entire BJP battle to defeat Patel. However, this time, the Congress proved a little better than the team Shah in this one Rajya Sabha seat, the contest of which was a close one and a widely-watched one too.

Modi also tweeted to congratulate Shah for completing three years as the BJP president on Wednesday.

"Congratulations to Shri @AmitShah on completing 3 successful years as @BJP4India President," Modi tweeted.

"During the Presidency of Shri @AmitShah, @BJP4India has expanded its base in several areas & diligently worked towards nation building," Modi added.

OneIndia