Ahmedabad: Hit by defections and facing a resurgent BJP, State Congress leaders are seeing a ray of hope in the just-concluded Gujarat University elections, where its student wing NSUI put up a good show ahead of Lok Sabha polls.
The State leaders on Monday cited the university election results to claim young students are inclined towards Congress, which recently saw the exit of nearly half a dozen MLAs.
NSUI, which was pitted against BJP student wing ABVP, has bagged 15 of the 24 seats that were on offer in key varsity bodies, including the powerful Senate.
The results, announced yesterday, have given a clear indication about the inclination of students towards Congress before the Lok Sabha elections, they maintained.
"(Jurisdiction of) Gujarat University is spread across 10 districts, which account for 7 Lok Sabha seats. Results of Senate election have proved the student community is with us and it will make a huge difference in Lok Sabha polls," State Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said at a press meet here.
During interaction with the media, State Congress General Secretary Indravijaysinh Gohil claimed the BJP Government had done nothing for students of Gujarat.
"The Government was only interested in giving benefits to outsiders such as filmstars wanting to buy property here. No attention was paid to problems faced by local students," alleged Gohil without naming Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Gohil supported Doshi`s views about the youth veering towards Congress in the State, which has 26 Lok Sabha seats.
"Not just GU, NSUI has won all the recent student body elections in four major universities in the State. Our fight is based on issues such as abolition of semester system," said Gohil, who expressed confidence about the youth vote swinging towards the main Opposition party.
NSUI national delegate Vishwanathsinh Vaghela said ABVP tried hard to convert the Senate election into a fight between BJP and Congress instead of their student wings.
"ABVP candidates printed photos of Narendra Modi on their forms and propaganda material. Yet, students rejected them. This has further made the picture clear about the things to come," claimed Vaghela.
The BJP, under Modi, is campaigning extensively here and is hoping to win all the 26 Lok Sabha seats.
