Just prior to the Assembly elections in Gujarat, as a fall out of the Rajya Sabha polls for three seats in the State, 15 Congress MLAs had crossed over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) . It was, the BJP hoped, a move that would allow it to win certain seats like Thasra in Kheda district — whose MLA was among those who defected — that it hadn’t won till now. As a result, the BJP has given tickets to seven of the 15 Congress MLAs that switched allegiance.
The Congress however, seems to be on the same page strategically, as it has also deployed strong candidates on seats it had held before but lost to the BJP in byelections and even some bastions of the party.
Senior leaders deployed
At least six candidates, most of them former MPs and senior leaders of the party have been deployed by the Congress across various pockets of the State.
The former MP from Surendranagar, Somabhai Patel, is a case in point, who has been fielded from the Limdi seat in the same district.
Mr. Patel, while still an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha, had fought the 2012 Assembly polls and won the seat. He however, chose to retain his Lok Sabha seat (logical considering that the UPA was in power at the Centre).
Compiled by The Hindu Data Team.
In the subsequent byelection in 2013, the Congress lost the seat to the BJP’s Kirtisinh Rana. Mr. Patel is now trying to wrest the seat back.
Similarly, Khambalia in Jamnagar will see the Congress’ former MP from Jamnagar Vikram Madam contesting. Mr. Madam is the uncle of the current MP Poonam Madam, who had left the Congress before the 2012 Assembly polls and gone on to win the Khambalia seat.
She again contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket and won. Ms. Madam’s father was a former mayor of Jamnagar and six time MLA from the seat that had been with the Congress earlier.
Former Union minister Tushar Chaudhary has been deployed on the Mahuva (ST) seat. The seat had been won by the BJP in both the 2007 and 2012 elections. Mr. Chaudhary was earlier MP from Bardoli and is son of former State chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhary.
Battle for bastion
The Congress is also determined to hold on to its traditional bastion of Jasdan, which it won in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 polls, but where the sitting Congress MLA Bholabhai Gohil played a dubious role in the Rajya Sabha polls in August.
Mr. Gohil and another Congress MLA Raghavji Patel’s votes were disqualified from the polls by the Election Commission for violating the secrecy of the ballot after a dramatic late night hearing in New Delhi.
Mr. Gohil had at that time declared that he would not contest in the next Assembly polls.
The Congress, however, is taking no chances to retain its old bastion by fielding Kunvarjibhai Bavalya, former MP from Rajkot for the seat.
Former MP from Amreli Virji Thummar has been fielded from the Lathi Assembly constituency, that has oscillated between the BJP and the Congress.
While the BJP had won the seat in 2007, the Congress won it in 2012, but a byelection to the seat in 2014 saw the seat back with BJP.
In similar strong arming, senior party leader Shaktisinh Gohil has been asked to move from Abdasa to the more tough Mandvi seat, currently held by the BJP.
The defection of 15 of its MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls made the victory of Mr. Ahmed Patel appear to be pyrrhic in its import to the Congress.
The party is hoping for a reversal of fortune by its strategic deployment of strong leaders.
