One of the toughest battles in the Gujarat Assembly elections is being staged in the Rajkot West Assembly constituency, where Chief Minister Vijay Rupani is seeking re-election against Congress candidate Indranil Rajyaguru.
Mr. Rajyaguru, now MLA for Rajkot East and the richest candidate in the State, has been shifted to West to take on the Chief Minister from his home turf.
Rajkot West has been a BJP bastion for years, but with the entry of Mr. Rajyaguru, a prominent builder and businessman of the city, it may not be a walk in the park. Both Mr. Rupani and Mr. Rajyaguru are first-time MLAs from Rajkot, the Saurashtra region’s main city and business hub.
This seat had been held by BJP’s seasoned leader Vajubhai Vala, now Governor of Karnataka, since 1990, but in 2002, Narendra Modi contested the bypolls from here to become a legislator after he was parachuted as Chief Minister to replace Keshubhai Patel. However, in the Assembly election held later in December 2002, Mr. Modi shifted from Rajkot to Maninagar in Ahmedabad and Mr. Vala returned as legislator from there.
Real battle
“This time, there is a real battle here. Both are powerful and it will be a tight contest,” said Mukesh Kalaria, a local businessman and resident of Rajkot. The city never saw such a keen fight in the past few decades.
As anywhere in Rajkot city, the constituency is dominated by Patidars, who make up almost 35% of the total electorate. “It’s been a safe seat for the BJP for decades. When Narendra Modi became CM of Gujarat, he came to Rajkot West to get elected as MLA,” said BJP spokesperson Raju Dhru, dismissing the claims that there is a close fight.
“Some people may believe that it’s a close fight because the Congress candidate is a powerful and rich person but the people of this area will not be concerned about who has how much money. People of this area will elect a person who is Chief Minister of the State,” Mr. Dhruv told The Hindu .
High-profile campaign
However, Mr. Rajyaguru, who has launched a high-profile campaign in the area, had announced his candidature from this seat some six months ago and since then has been working hard. “I have been actively campaigning and I am confident of a surprise this time,” he said. “People of Rajkot West are well aware that Mr. Rupani will not be CM after the polls.”
However, what makes this contest significant is not Mr. Rajyaguru’s candidature but the external factor of Hardik Patel, who held a massive campaign rally in this constituency on Wednesday. In his fiery address, Mr. Patel exhorted the Patidar community to vote out the BJP government.
