The Congress journey in Gujarat

The story so far: “We have not been able to fulfill what the people of Gujarat expected from us for the past 15-30 years,” said Rahul Gandhi on March 8, 2025, while addressing party workers in Ahmedabad. He urged the party to weed out workers and leaders who are “cut off from people and in cahoots with BJP,” from those “who work for people and have Congress’ ideology in their heart.”The Congress seeks to end the BJP’s 35-year grip on Gujarat in the 2027 State polls. 

Also Read: Work in progress: On the Congress and its Ahmedabad session

A month later, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) met in Ahmedabad and passed a resolution for a “massive organisational reshuffle” and vowed to embark on the “path of social justice” espoused by Sardar Vallabbhai Patel. The party has promised to roll out guidelines to empower the party’s district unit chiefs with enhanced accountability, responsibility and political strength. It also plans to undertake a mass contact programme through padyatras and door-to-door programmes. 

Since 1995, when BJP first snatched a majority of 121 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the Congress is yet to win a single State poll. The party had peaked in 1972 when it won 140 of the 168 seats in the Gujarat Assembly. The party fell to its lowest tally of 17 seats in 2022.

Here’s a look at the Congress’ journey in Gujarat

1962-1990

As India’s princely states and British provinces were being reorganised in the 1955-57, a united front of Opposition parties called the Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad sought the creation of a unilingual State, carved out of the bilingual State of Bombay. On May 1, 1960, Bombay State was bifurcated into Maharashtra and Gujarat. The Congress chose Jivraj Mehta as Gujarat’s first CM while Maratha strongman Y.B Chavan became Maharashtra’s CM. 

In the 1962 elections, Mr. Mehta was re-elected as Congress won 113 of the 154 Assembly seats. Its prime opposition parties were the Swatantra Party (SWP), which won 26 seats, and the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) which won seven seats. The Congress had amassed 50.84% of the votes polled, while SWP got a 24.44% vote share. The SWP, a breakaway faction of the Congress, was founded by stalwarts K.M. Munshi and C. Rajagopalachari, both conservative leaders of the Congress. 

The Congress continued to rule the state till 1995. However, its seat share which grew steadily between 1962 and 1985, began to fall drastically from 1990. With the passing away of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, the Congress saw a split as the ‘old guard’ expelled his daughter Indira Gandhi in 1969. Renamed as INC (O) – which later merged into the Janata Party, the Morarji Desai-led Congress faction had two consecutive terms in Gujarat between 1976 and 1977. 

With the resurgence of Indira Gandhi in 1977, the Congress once again gained control of Gujarat in 1980. Wiping out the Janata Party, Congress won 141 seats, while the Janata Party was limited to 21 seats. The newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made its poll debut winning nine seats. BJP’s predecessor, Bharatiya Jan Sangh, had merged with the Janata Party to oppose Indira Gandhi’s emergency. However, with the fall of the Janata government in the Centre, all its constituent parties broke away. 

Between 1980 and 1990, the Congress shifted its focus from the upper class Gujaratis to the lower classes. Led by Madhavsinh Solanki, the Congress sought to fortify an alliance between Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims (KHAM). This alliance paid rich dividends as the Congress won 141 seats and 149 seats in the 182-seat assembly in 1980 and 1985. Its voteshare too increased from 51.04% to 55.55% — its highest till date.

However, the alienation of the upper class cost Mr. Solanki his CM chair. Upon taking oath, he was forced to step down as caste riots spread across Gujarat due to his government’s promise to implement a 10% reservation for socially and economically backward classes. OBC leader Jinabhai Darji, who had been instrumental in stitching the KHAM alliance, found himself being sidelined, paving way for Amarsinh Chaudhary to take oath as CM. 

Failing to deliver on its promise to expand OBC reservation, the Congress was reduced to a minority in 1990 when it won only 33 seats. The rising BJP, which wooed the business communities and upper-caste traderst, won 67 seats, while its alliance partner Janata Dal (JD) won 70 seats. Chimanbhai Patel, who led JD’s Gujarat faction, successfully engineered a coalition of the Kolis, Kanbis (also called Kunbis or Patidars) and Muslims in Gujarat – which amounted to over 35% of Gujarat’s population.

1995-2012

BJP veteran Keshubhai Patel led the party to power in 1995, winning 121 seats, forming the BJP’s first majority government in the State. The Congress was reduced to 45 seats and 32.86% of the votes. However, it attempted to cash in on the internal rift between BJP leaders Shankersinh Vaghela and Mr. Patel, supporting the rebellion by Mr. Vaghela, who had 47 MLAs backing him. Meanwhile, BJP’s newly-appointed Gujarat secretary, Narendra Modi, backed Mr. Patel’s candidacy for the CM post despite many MLAs preferring Mr. Vaghela, leading to internal turmoil. However, the BJP managed to quell the rebellion, banishing Mr. Modi from Gujarat for six years and installing Mr. Vaghela’s aide Suresh Mehta as CM.

Between 1995 and 2001, the tussle between Mr. Vaghela and Mr. Patel continued, with both holding brief CM terms, while BJP continued to build on its support. The party’s seat share continued to remain above 110 seats and it consistently polled above 40% of the votes. After Mr. Patel was made to resign in 2001 following alleged irregularities in relief work for the Bhuj earthquake, the BJP chose Mr. Modi as its CM pick. A disgruntled Keshubhai Patel dissented to Mr. Modi’s re-election by backing the Congress CM pick in 2007, breaking away from the BJP in 2012 to form the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), before returning to the BJP’s fold in 2014. 

During the Modi years (2001-2013), BJP was re-elected thrice in 2002, 2007 and 2012 with an absolute majority – winning 127 seats, 116 seats and 115 seats respectively. Its vote share consistently remained above 48%. During these years, the Congress managed to maintain its own vote share at 38% and its strength oscillated between 50-60 seats. While BJP managed to consolidate the upper caste Hindu votes in its corner, the Congress managed to retain its vote share among Muslims, Adivasis and OBCs.

2017 onwards

Rahul Gandhi, who took over the mantle of Congress president in 2017, led the party’s electoral campaign for the next election cycle. Struck by the Patidar agitation led by Hardik Patel, a counter protest of SC/ST and OBCs led by Alpesh Thakor, and Dalit protests against the Una flogging incident led by Jignesh Mewani, the BJP faced an uphill battle to hold on to the state. Capitalising on the grievances of most communities, Congress managed to win 77 seats, restricting BJP to 99 seats — its lowest since 1995. 

However, since then BJP has course-corrected. While all three of these young activists — Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mewani— joined the Congress during the 2017 elections, Mr. Thakor and Mr. Patel eventually joined BJP and won from Viramgam and Radhanpur in the 2022 State elections. 

In the build-up to the State polls in December 2022, Mr. Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was the Congress party’s top priority. While he addressed a rally in Ahmedabad in September, Mr. Gandhi remained largely absent from the paty’s electoral campaign. Moreover, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had been gradually capturing the Congress vote across States, were aggressively campaigning in Gujarat. Spearheading AAP’s campaign, party chief Arvind Kejriwal announced a slew of freebies focusing on different communities. 

The Congress was also hit by a slew of high-profile exits, including former leader of Opposition Mohansinh Rathwa, senior MLAs Ashwin Kotwal, Bhaga Barad, and Raghavji Patel, ex-State chief Arjun Modhwadia, Ambarish Der, and Dharmesh Patel prior to the polls. Another blow to the Congress was the demise of veteran Ahmed Patel – a close aide of the Gandhis and its troubleshooter in Gujarat, in 2020. The results reflected Congress’ poor campaign as the party was reduced to its lowest tally of 17 out of the total 182 seats. Its vote-share was also reduced to 27.28%. While BJP retained its votebase of 52.5%, it was AAP which ate into the Congress’ share, winning 12.92% of the votes in five seats. 

Since then, Mr. Gandhi has visited the State multiple times and admitted that the party did not fight the last Assembly polls properly which led to its disastrous results. Highlighting the Congress’ issues in ticket distribution, he said, “There are two types of horses — one for racing and the other for weddings. I was told that sometimes the Congress swaps both. We have to stop this in Gujarat.”

Gearing up for the 2027 elections, Mr. Gandhi, who was on a two-day visit in Gujarat on April 15-16, 2025, launched the ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhigyan’ to build party organisation. He promised to reward leaders on the basis of performance and remove those who are either inactive or “work for the BJP.” The party has also formed a committee which will meet with district workers and chose possible district presidents. These district chiefs will take decisions to run the district unit without any interference or instructions “from above,” assured Mr. Gandhi, adding that they will have a greater say in the selection of candidates for Assembly elections. 

“Only the Congress can defeat the BJP and the RSS. Gujarat is the most important State for the party because the path to BJP’s defeat goes through Gujarat,” concluded Mr. Gandhi.