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The going may not be easy for the BJP in Kutch

Manas Dasgupta

The party hopes to win all the six seats, but wrong selection of candidates coupled with the caste factor may hit it hard

Congress bagged four seats, BJP two in 2002
Suresh Mehta, Keshubhai factor helping Congress

BHUJ (Kutch district): The earthquake-hit Kutch district may give another jolt to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and the BJP in the coming elections to the Assembly. Banking on the good work done by the government for the rehabilitation of the 2001 earthquake-affected, the BJP hopes to win all the six seats from the district but wrong selection of candidates coupled with the caste factor may hit the party hard.

Five of the six sitting members of the outgoing Assembly are this time contesting on the Congress ticket and one is a candidate of the BJP. The Congress also has fielded a strong candidate, the Kutch district unit president of the party, to contest against the sole BJP sitting member, also a defector, in Anjar, while in comparison, most of the BJP nominees are almost unknown faces contesting the elections for the first time.

The Congress is feeling jittery at least in two constituencies due to the presence of two strong Muslim candidates, one of them fielded by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. If they cut into the sizeable minority votes that otherwise are expected to go to the Congress kitty, the party may find the going tough in Abdasa and Bhuj

Despite the “communal wave” in the 2002 elections, the Congress bagged four seats and the BJP two, but both its members in the outgoing House, Narendra Jadeja (Abdasa) and Gopal Dhua (Mundra), have joined the dissident ranks and are this time contesting on the Congress ticket.

Of the four Congressmen in the outgoing House, Nimaben Acharya (Anjar) has crossed over to the BJP and is back in the fray displacing Vasan Ahir, a former BJP MLA, a strong contender for the Anjar ticket but has been shifted to the neighbouring constituency of Bhuj.

The direct support of the former Chief Minister and prominent dissident leader, Suresh Mehta, and “blessings” of the veteran leader, Keshubhai Patel, is further helping the Congress cause in the district.

Dominated by Patel voters, the Congress nominee, Chhabildas Patel, seems to be sitting pretty in Mr. Mehta’s home constituency, Mandvi, to win a second term against the little-known BJP nominee, Mangal Singhani. His selection had shocked even the local BJP leaders because he had earned a bad name as a government contractor and had only six months back lost a taluk panchayat election.

With both the Congress and the BJP nominees coming from the dominant “Ahir” community in Bhuj, a division of votes is expected to benefit the Congress sitting member, Shivjibhai Ahir, seeking re-election, besides the advantage of the Muslim votes constituting about 28 per cent of the total electorate.

Considered an outsider, the BJP nominee, Vasan Ahir, who has been shifted from Anjar to accommodate the Congress defector, Nimaben Acharya, is also faced with the dissatisfaction of the former MLA, Mukesh Jhaveri, a strong Keshubhai Patel supporter, who still has considerable clout.

The denial of ticket to Mr. Vasan Ahir has angered his Ahir community voters in Anjar against Ms. Acharya who, despite the BJP support in the urban areas of Gandhidham and Anjar town, is finding the going tough. If the “Modi magic” failed to charm the people in the rural areas of the constituency, the Congress nominee, V.K. Humbal, an Ahir and the district unit president of the party, should be able to retain the seat for the party. Ms. Acharya had won the seat on the Congress symbol last time.

The Congress is also confident of the former Finance Minister, Babubhai Meghji Shah, retaining the Rapar seat for the third time. He won the seat as a Congress nominee in the last election and is expected to repeat the feat with the support of the pre-dominantly Koli votes, unhappy with the Modi administration for failure to catch the culprits of the Chandni mass rape and murder incident near Junagadh.

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