New Delhi
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba Jadeja and Patidar leader Hardik Patel figure in the first list of candidates announced by the BJP for the fast approaching elections to the Gujarat assembly.
The saffron party is eyeing seventh consecutive win in the western state where it first tasted power in the mid-nineties.
The BJP central election committee (CEC) announced its candidates for 160 constituencies. Among others former Morbi MLA Kantilal Amrutya too has been named as a party candidate.
The saffron outfit list includes 14 women, and 13 and 24 members from the Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other CEC members, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh besides party’s national president J P Nadda, were in the meeting to finalise the candidates.
Former Congress leader Hardik Patel has been fielded as a BJP candidate from the Viramgam constituency
while CM Bhupendra Patel will contest the elections from the Ghatlodia assembly constituencyin Ahmedabad.
Viramgam is also part of Ahmedabad district and in two previous assembly polls 2012 and 2017 the
Congress party has been winning the seat.
The BJP fielded Kantilal Amrutya, a former MLA from Morbi, who reportedly jumped into the river to save people after the collapse of a bridge.
Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba Jadeja will contest from the Jamnagar Uttar constituency. Gujarat Home minister Harsh Sanghavi has been fielded from the Majura constituency.
Notably former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and ex-deputy CM Nitin Patel have opted out ofrace to contest elections this time. They conveyed the same on Wednesday in their letters toGujarat unit president C R Patil.
Two other senior BJP leaders, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Pradeepsinh Jadeja -- who were ministers in the Vijay Rupani cabinet -- also announced that they will not seek tickets for the polls this year.
Kantilal Amrutiya, 60, will be the BJP candidate from Morbi which witnessed the unprecedented nightmarish tragedy recently. The current MLA of Morbi, Brijesh Merja, has been replaced.
Mr Amrutiya was seen in videos wearing a life tube and trying to rescue people who fell into the river after the cables of the century-old bridge snapped on October 30 killing about 134 people, media reports said.
The counting of votes will take place December 8 while the voting will be held on Dec 1 and Dec 5.
Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Mansukh Mandaviya along with Gujarat BJP president C R Patil announced at a press conference the names of the party candidates.
The party named its candidates for 84 of the 89 seats which will go to the polls in the first phase on December 1 and 76 of 93 candidates that go to the polls on December 5.
The saffron party first tasted victory in the nineties. Keshubhai Patel first became Chief Minister on March 14, 1995.
He was succeeded by Suresh Mehta and for brief spells there was President's Rule and also BJP rebel Shankersinh Vaghelawas in power.The saffron party returned to power in 1998 and since then the party has not lost power in the state.Narendra Modi was chief minister of his native state from Oct 7, 2001 till May 22, 2014.
After him Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani were in power. Bhupendra Patel took over as the chief minister on Sept 13, 2021.
Bhupendra Patel remains a die-hard Narendra Modi admirer and also an efficient Chief Minister. Modi remains BJP's star face and it was purely his 'mass appeal' that helped it brave the 22-year-old incumbency in Gujarat though its number of seats dropped from 116 in 2012 to 99 in 2017.
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Gujarat Battle of 2022: Power politics triggered in tribal belt
The ruling BJP has staged a coup in the tribal belt in the run up to the battle of 2022.
The 10-time MLA Mohansinh Rathava representing the prestigious Chhota Udepur constituency in central Gujarat has quit the Congress and switched over to the saffron party.
It is being stated that Rathava, 79, is 'displeased' as he failed to convince the Congress leadership
to heed his request and field his son Ranjitsinh from the seat.
The 'breakthrough' is vital as despite losing elections since the 1990s, the Congress had a strong grip
in these areas.
The Lotus party's poll strategists now believe that they can muster a better hold in Gujarat's tribal belt, which
has as many as 27 assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribe.
Of these 27 seats, in 2012 -- which was Narendra Modi's last assembly polls, the BJP had won 10
leaving 16 for Congress while one seat had gone to the Janata Dal (U).
Five years back in 2017 elections, the Congress bagged 15 seats while the saffron party managed 8 and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) of Chhotu Vasava could pick up two constituencies, and one seat had gone to an independent.
The BJP had recently organized one episode of 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' in this tribal belt in eastern part of
the state.
In Gujarat, the tribal population accounts for about 16 percent of total population and the
community is largely spread across 14 eastern districts. In a real political sense, the tribal population is
concentrated in 48 talukas but in total they make a difference in as many as 53 talukas.
While the battle for supremacy among the tribal areas is between Congress and BJP, the
AAP has tried to establish a toehold with an alliance with BTP.
However, Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) later withdrew and despite Arvind Kejriwal addressing three rallies
in the region, the tribal people are apparently not much impressed with the third player.
On the occasion of World Tribal Day on August 9th, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel wanted to make it
clear that for him and his party, tribal welfare and uplift figure prominently in the list of priorities irrespective
of any electoral factor.
Speaking at a function at Jhalod, Chief Minister Patel made it clear that during the last two decades, the tribal
families residing in the entire stretch of 53 talukas from Ambaji to Umergaon in Gujarat have
benefitted from the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana.
This scheme was launched during the stint of Modi as the Chief Minister.
The Chhota Udepur seat has long been a Congress bastion but in 2002, the BJP won it and had repeated the feat
even in 2007. Congress veteran Sukhram Rathava won it continuously from 1985 to 2002 and yet again
Mohansinh Rathava could wrest it back for the Congress in 2012 and 2017.
"We have a bright prospect to do well in the tribal belt and win at least 18-20 seats if not more," says Gujarat
Tribal Development Minister Naresh Patel.
Mohansinh Rathava has not lost an election since 1972 barring the 2002 polls which saw an unprecedented
saffron wave under Modi. Of course, he has a long political oneupmanship issue with Rajya Sabha MP Naran
Rathava, who also wants the Congress party to accommodate his son.
Thus the neo defection game is seen as a prelude to a gamechanger politics in the tribal segment of India's
western state.
Now due to sustained political works and developmental measures carried out in the region and a special
focused attention laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat Minister for Tribal Development
Naresh Patel says the BJP has set a target of winning 20 seats from 27 from the tribal belt.
Box:
Dang making waves
The tribal world is a 'changed world' for the state of Gujarat today. On Aug 10, CM Patel inaugurated
5,690 tribal development projects worth Rs 1,600 crore.
The epithet or image of ‘Vikas Purush', which Narendra Modi earned during his tenure as the chief minister
in his native state can be actually well appreciated among the simpleton tribal community in Dang district.
Dang is also a fast emerging rewarding hub for tourists. The region is famous for a number of native festivals.
Some of these include: Bhawada - the Festival of Masks, Bail Pola - a farmers' fest, Bhaya Nritya festival and
this is linked to praying to the Hill God, the Dungardev.
Dang district is nestled in the southern parts of Gujarat almost like a cluster of thickly forested hills in the tip of the Sahyadri mountain range. Dang is also the biggest tribal district in the state with 94 percent of the population belonging to Scheduled Tribes.
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