Skip to main content

It is Jain Vaniya CM versus a rich Brahmin in the Patel heartland


Gujarat Elections 2017
Key Constituency: Rajkot West

It is Jain Vaniya CM versus a rich Brahmin in the Patel heartland

By Deepak Parvatiyar*

Considered a Bharatiya Janata Party bastion, Rajkot West is the biggest constituency within the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Having given three chief ministers to the state – Keshubhai Patel, Narendra Modi and the present CM Vijay Rupani, this wealthy urban seat is now better known as the BJP’s “CM seat”. Rupani had won the by elections here in 2014 when Vajubhai Vala, the incumbent speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly, resigned as the MLA from Rajkot West as he was appointed as the governor of Karnataka. Rupani had then won by a comfortable margin of 23,740 votes, securing 81,092 votes as against his nearest Congress Party rival Jayanti Kalaria’s 57,352 votes.



This time though, he faces some anxious time here in face of the almost two-year old Patidar (Patel) agitation over reservation. The challenge before him is to win over the Patel votes in a constituency which has been the epicenter for the Patidar agitation. (It may be mentioned that Rajkot district, the financial center of Saurashtra, lies at the centre of Gujarat's Patidar hinterland). Around 75,000, or almost one-fourth of the constituency’s population, are Patidars, who are a key voting bloc here.
The architect of the Patidar agitation and leader of Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS),Hardik Patel, is going all out, campaigning against Rupani in the constituency -- "Vijay Rupani has done nothing for the state or for Rajkot..”  PAAS has already extended its support to the Congress. On Wednesday, 28th November, it organized in the constituency an impressive public meeting “Mahakranti”, which was addressed by Hardik and was reported to be attended by over 20,000 persons. Hardik belongs to Patidar’s sub-caste, Kadva. There are 40,000 Kadva Patels in the constituency as against 28,000 Leuva Patels. A split in the community may help the BJP and Hardik is wary of such a possibility as he said: “They (BJP) are trying to divide us into Kadva and Leuva… But we are one, we are Patidars. Vote against the BJP… If you do not, then they will think that we (Patidars) are powerless.”
Yet, it is interesting that in this Patel heartland, the main contest is between a Jain Vaniya, Rupani, and the Congress’s ‘imported’ Brahmin candidate, Indranil Rajguru. The chief minister is facing a stiff contest from Rajguru, who is state’s richest candidate. In 2012 the latter had won from Rajkot East seat by a slender margin of 4272 votes. This time he has changed his seat to challenge the chief minister and the Congress party says that he has been nursing the constituency for the last one year. His party is also raking up the issue of November 2017 SEBI issuing ex parte order imposing a penalty of Rs. 1500000 to Rupani’s firm for creating misleading appearance in the stocks through “manipulative trades”. It may be mentioned however, that later the Securities Appellate Tribunal set aside the penalty order and asked the SEBI to issue fresh order and hear all the entities
This aside, 61-year-old Rupani, the sitting MLA, is a known public face of the  city where he was twice elected as corporator of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) in 1987 and 1995. He also served as the mayor of Rajkot from 1996 to 1997. Thereafter, he climbed the political ladder and was a member of Rajya Sabha from 2006 to 2012. He was inducted as minister in the first cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in November 2014. He also became the president of the state BJP in February 2016 and thereafter in August 2016 he replaced Anandiben Patel as the chief minister. 
Incidentally, even as both the BJP as well as the Congress are campaigning aggressively here, the chief minister’s busy campaign schedule across the state means lesser time for him for his constituency. In such a situation, his election campaign is being managed by his wife, the saree-clad, bespectacled Anjaliben, the general secretary of the BJP’s women’s wing. She is doing door to door canvassing where she tells the voters: “Amne yaad rakhjo (Do remember us).” This is a refreshing change from the past when Modi, as well as Anandiben, used to campaign alone when they were CMs. Anjaliben is calm and confident: “People here are aware about the work the BJP has done. There is no contest as we do not want to defeat anyone. We just want to win people’s heart.”
*The writer is a senior journalist

Courtesy Pudhari Marathi daily 2.12.2017

 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/home.php?edition=Mumbai&date=-1&pageno=9&pid=PUDHARI_MUM#Article/PUDHARI_MUM_20171202_09_3/298px

 http://www.pudhari.news/news/National/ahmdabad-congress-challenge-against-gujarat-chief-minister/m/

 http://www.pudhari.news/news/National/ahmdabad-congress-challenge-against-gujarat-chief-minister/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WANTED: A Leader

WANTED: A Leader EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 31 WANTED: A Leader June 13, 2012 12:15 PM By Deepak Parvatiyar Do we really have any leader in our country who is above religion, caste, and sectarian politics and yet popular with the masses? Can you name any one name that is acceptable to the majority as a mass leader? My question assumes significance in the wake of what we witnessed last week. First, at the Congress Working Committee meeting the delegates raked up the issue of inaccessible ministers (how can they be leaders if they are inaccessible?) Yet, the most important issue was the lack of unanimity even within the ruling coalition itself over the choice of the next Presidential candidate. Thereafter, the BJP’s Gujarat satrap Narendra Modi delivered a power packed punch to claim the scalp of his little-known-much-discussed and elusive bête noire Sanjay Joshi. (Can Modi ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summary of Second Phase of Assam and Bengal polls

Summary of Second Phase of Assam and Bengal polls By Deepak Parvatiyar http://www.elections.in/blog/summary-second-phase-assam-bengal-polls/ April 11, 2016 An FIR was filed against Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi (Congress) under Section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act at the direction of the Election Commission for violating the model code of conduct by holding a press conference in Guwahati during the second phase of polling in the state. The allegations made by Gogoi during the press conference were found unfounded by the Commission which viewed the press conference as an exercise to influence the polling. Voter Turnout in Assam State polls in Assam concluded with 82.02% of 1,04,35,277 voters turning out at the 12,699 polling stations by 5 pm, to seal the fate of 525 candidates in 61 assembly constituencies of the state. The polling percentage was much higher than the 76.05% recorded in these constituencies in 2011 state elections and the 80.21% poll...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why election manifestos are losing their value and importance in India?

Why election manifestos are losing their value and importance in India? By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 11, 2015 Much ruckus is being made on the coming together of the two diametrically opposite parties, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party and the  Bharatiya Janata Party , to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Inarguably they are two uncomfortable allies who in any given circumstances are considered ideologically misfit to join hands lest rule together. The initial jerks in the coalition have already surfaced after the J&K PDP’s mentor and new state chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed arbitrarily decided to release hard-line Kashmiri separatist Masarat Alam from detention, recently. This has put the BJP in the dock and it now cries foul over not being consulted on the issue. The Opposition has even forced adjournments in both the houses of Parliament over the issue demanding an explanation from the BJP-led Union Government. The BJP is ...
Post a Comment
Read more