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If Assembly elections were held in Gujarat today, the BJP will get only 60-65 seats out of 182. It is this stark finding of an internal survey conducted by the RSS in the state which sent panic bells ringing within the sangh parivar and the urgency to find a replacement for chief minister Anandiben Patel, according to a report published today by Ahmedabad Mirror from the Times of India group.
The survey was reportedly conducted over a period of two weeks following the ongoing agitation to protest flogging of Dalit youths over skinning of dead cow in Una. The survey was done using ground-level pracharaks of the RSS who are trained to collect feedback from people.
The survey findings prompted the top RSS leadership in Gujarat to convince Anandiben Patel to step down, according to the report.
What has particularly alarmed the RSS is the fact of Muslims coming out in support of agitating Dalits and the internal polarisation among Hindus.
An RSS spokesperson however told the publication that the RSS does not conduct such surveys.
The full report in Ahmedabad Mirror may be read here. Another report published today by Lok Bharat which claims a similar internal RSS survey forecasted equally dismal results if elections were held in Gujarat and UP today may be read here.