My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Gujarat Key Constituencies: Mehesana Gujarat's Deputy Chief Minister Nitinbhai Patel fighting hard to retain his seat in the Mehsana constituency By Deepak Parvatiyar* A hotbed of Patidar quota agitation, Mehesana in north Gujarat had seen the very first rally for the quota on 6 July 2015. It was from here that the agitation spread across the state and led to the Patidar Maharally in Ahmedabad on 25 August 2015, which later sparked rioting and curfew across the state. In Mehsana too, just two days after the Ahmedabad Maharally, two youths were killed in police firing. It is for this reason that Mehesana  is expected to see one of the toughest fights in Gujarat.  The constituency is among the 70-odd constituencies of Gujarat where Patidar community votes hold the keys for electoral success. Here Patidars constitute about 28 per cent of the population.  Deputy chief minister Nitinbhai Patel, himself a Patidar, is seeking re-election from here. Will he be able to keep

Gujarat Key Constituency: Bhavnagar West Gujarat BJP President Jitu Vaghani is fighting anti incumbency in Bhavnagar West   Congress candidate Dilipsinh Gohil campaigning in Bhavnagar West Assembly constituency of Gujarat By Deepak Parvatiyar* On November 21, just before Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gujarat state unit chief Jitu Vaghani filed his nomination papers from Bhavnagar West, the party’s national president Amit Shah addressed an impressive rally in the constituency. Shah calls Vaghani his “friend” and told the gathering that he had come as Vaghani’s friend and not as the BJP president. Shah  has been throwing his weight behind him for obvious reasons. Before him, the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi as well as the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel had aggressively campaigned against the BJP in the constituency, in a bid to rake up the anti-incumbency factor as well as the issue of quota for Patels. Aware of the consequences of these twi