In his first address to party workers since the election results, Patil claims responsibility for loss of Lok Sabha seat | Ahmedabad News

“The BJP in Gujarat has been breaking records in every election. The BJP secured 1.68 crore votes in the 2022 state assembly elections and 1.83 crore votes in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. This excludes the Surat seat which we won unopposed. In the 2022 state assembly elections, the Indian National Congress secured 9 crore votes, but in these Lok Sabha elections, the party secured 1.01 crore votes. If elections had been held in Surat, the BJP would have secured another 8 lakh votes,” Patil said.

Highlighting that the party won all five constituencies in the by-elections and its tally in the Gujarat Assembly now stands at 161 seats, the state BJP leader said, “But this time, we could not win three consecutive Lok Sabha elections. There were some mistakes and I take responsibility for them.”

Days after taking over as head of his new division, Patil appealed to party leaders and workers to set up rainwater harvesting systems. He announced that BJP legislators would be trained to spread information about rainwater harvesting in their localities. He called for measures to be taken to increase green cover.

Addressing the meeting, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said, “People who have returned to the city after spending their summer vacation outside may have now seen countdown traffic lights installed at 184 places. The police and Surat civic body are working together to reduce the time it takes for vehicles to pass through the traffic lights. We have observed a 20 per cent reduction in serious accidents.”