Fast Changing Equations in Poll-Bound Gujarat, BJP Uncomfortable on Home Turf

by Guest Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:25 am

Victory is certain, the Gujarat elections shall be about winning 150 seats, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah had said, addressing a rally in Junagarh in June this year. However, as the elections near, this target no longer seems easy for the BJP to achieve. As political tides take a new turn every day, the BJP seems to be in an uncomfortable position in the state it has ruled for two decades.

In mid-October this year, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel, and OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, appeared together for an interview for the first time in a programme organised by a national channel. The three youth leaders took the platform to declare an ‘anti-right wing’ front. Mevani claimed that the three of them could together make a dent in 120 out of the 182 assembly seats. The trio later found itself in the midst of the BJP-Congress face off in poll-bound Gujarat.

Even as speculations were ripe about the new-found caste polemics of a Dalit, OBC and Patidar leader, and the vote share conundrum, Reshma Patel and Varun Patel – key aides of Hardik Patel – quit PAAS to join BJP on October 21.

Reshma Patel and Varun Patel were among the prominent faces of PAAS. Noticeably, Reshma Patel has shared the stage with Mevani and student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, in a public meeting in Mehsana, during Azadi Kooch in July this year, and was also detained along with other activists.

The news that the duo were joining BJP came hours within Alpesh Thakor declaring that he will join Congress on October 23. Mevani however, maintained that he shall not join any political party.

Just a few hours after Reshma Patel and Varun Patel had joined the BJP, Narendra Patel, a senior patidar leader from North Gujarat and co-convener of PAAS – who had also joined the BJP – quit. In a dramatic move, Narendra Patel called a late night press conference on October 22, and claimed that the BJP had offered him Rs 1 crore to join the party, displaying bundles of notes before the media.

“I enacted a drama to join BJP only to expose them. BJP is hoping to damage control in patidar dominated belt after defection of Varun Patel and Reshma Patel ahead of polls,” Narendra Patel told the media.
Following this, Bharat Pandya, Gujarat BJP spokesperson completely dismissed Narendra Patel’s claim. However, even before the party could overcome the shock of the episode, fresh trouble emerged. Nikhil Savani, the face of the patidar agitation in Surat, who had joined BJP, quit the party. Savani had joined the BJP with 150 former members of PAAS on September 26 this year.

Unfazed by the actions of his aides, Hardik Patel took to twitter to announce, “The centipede shall continue to run even if some of his legs break. People are with me and I shall continue to fight for them.” Soon after, the PAAS leader announced a series of sabhas, between October 22 and October 31, in districts including in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Amreli.

Meanwhile, amidst the high voltage political scenario, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on October 23 for the third time this month. However, not only did his roadshow see empty streets, the prime minister also had to face the wrath of Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHA workers, who had been agitating in Vadodara for months. Chandrika Solanki, the president of the Fixed Salary Struggle Committee, threw half a dozen bangles at the cavalcade of the prime minister.

https://thewire.in/190754/gujarat-elections-bjp-congress/