Although there is some time before political parties announce the candidates for the forthcoming general elections, Gujarat deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel set the tone for what to expect in the coming months by saying that the Congress party will split ahead of the polls and the BJP welcomes those leaders who are willing to switch loyalties.
Speaking to the media, the senior BJP leader on Monday said that the Congress party is not behaving like one unit, but like various factions. “I believe the Congress will get split before the general election. It is for the party organisation to reach out to Alpesh Thakor. But personally I would welcome him into the fold,” Nitin Patel said when asked about the ‘disgruntlement’ among the Congress leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
There is also talk of Nitin Patel resigning from the Vijay Rupani cabinet as he will be given a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election from a seat of his bastion in north Gujarat. Insiders say that the Congress turncoat Kunvarji Bavaliya, who recently won the Jasdan assembly bypoll on a BJP ticket, will get the deputy chief minister’s post. This is being seen as part of the BJP’s grand strategy to win over the OBC vote in the state. He remained tight-lipped about contesting the Lok Sabha polls.
Reacting to Patel, Congress MLA from Radhanpur, Alpesh Thakore said: “I have no problem with the Congress party whatsoever. Under the present circumstances, the Congress is in a position to win between nine to 12 seats comfortably. With a little more effort and proper choice of candidates, we will be able to win more than 15 of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats.
Thakor, who enjoys a good rapport with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, is visiting Delhi in the evening to discuss the situation prevailing in the party at the moment. A number of MLAs in the party have been holding parleys demanding that committed younger leaders should be given a chance to prove themselves, instead of the old guard. Some of them even lost their seats in the 2017 Assembly election. Among the senior leaders who could not win the Assembly election in 2017 include Arjun Modhvadia, Siddharth Patel and Shaktisinh Gohil.
In the past couple of days, there have been rumours that Thakor is being wooed by the BJP and is likely to cross over before the general election. This comes after a series of meetings that were attended by five or six Congress MLAs headed by Thakor. Stray voices of dissent have also been heard from the Congress MLAs in Ahmedabad and Surat, stating that it is time winnability is the criterion for deciding candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat, as some senior Congress leaders have not been able to win even Assembly seats.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Reshma Patel added a new dimension to the political scenario by stating that five or six BJP MLAs were in touch with her and have informed her that they are not happy with the way the party is functioning in Gujarat. “When there is disgruntlement within our own house, why should we go public and talk of disgruntlement in the Congress party. Our own MLAs are saying that peoples’ welfare works are not being done properly and that people are not happy with our party leaders,” she told News18.
Former GPCC president and senior leader Bharatsinh Solanki, meanwhile, said that it is not the Congress, but the BJP that will face a split ahead of the election. “The BJP is scared and is resorting to these tactics ahead of the elections. Instead of the Congress, there will be a split in the BJP,” he stated.
Congress spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi added: “The BJP is not in a position to win elections on its own. The case of Kunvarji Bavaliya is a recent example, where the BJP could win an election by poaching a Congress leader. It is no secret that the chief minister and deputy chief minister don’t get along.
Everybody knows BJP state chief Jitu Vaghani does not get along with organization stalwart Bhikhu Dalsaniya. As far as Lok Sabha elections are concerned, like all parties, there are deliberations on in the Congress as well. People can voice different opinions.”
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