When one leader asks for a ticket, there are 10 others who are as capable: Gujarat BJP leader

“Many times, the decisions of the party can change. It is the decision of the Central Parliamentary Committee (to decide candidates) and it takes decisions as it deems fit. When one leader asks for a ticket, there are 10 others who are as capable. They could be better than them (who are given tickets). But the party has to make a decision in favour of one candidate… Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no matter who the candidate, we will have no problem winning a constituency by five lakh votes,” said Zadafia. His statements come amid the ongoing factional war within the party after the announcement of candidates for various Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Zadafia said the Parliamentary Board’s decision is binding on the workers although the candidates are free to pull out of the race.

“The local leaders can give their suggestions but the absolute decision is with the Parliamentary Board. The candidates (selected) can put forth their reasons but the Parliamentary Board can also have reasons (to change) and it is their prerogative… I feel that for the next 25 years, the BJP can field any candidate from Gujarat and we will still win all 26 seats… They (candidates withdrawing) might have personal reasons and when they take a voluntary decision, it is fine as it (party nomination) is not compulsory (to contest),” he said.

At the event, about 500 Congress workers joined the BJP in presence of Zadafiya, party’s Chhota Udepur candidate Jashu Rathwa, and Congress’s former Rajya Sabha MP Naran Rathwa, who joined the saffron party in February.
Expressing confidence in BJP’s prospects of a record win, Zadafiya said the Congress has been “cleaned out” from Chhota Udepur. “Today several Congress leaders, who could not join at the earlier event along with Naran Rathwa, have joined the party today… Now, the Congress has a lone member in the (Chhota Udepur) District Panchayat. We are in a position to create a record in Chhota Udepur. Our goal is to win every Parliamentary constituency in Gujarat by five lakh votes… but in Chhota Udepur, we have set a margin of six lakh votes.”

The Congress’s inability to keep its flock together came from a “lack of leadership”, Zadafiya added. “When leaders from the Congress or other parties come to the BJP, they come without any conditions. They feel that the direction in which the Congress is going, especially after it became almost negligible in the 2022 Assembly polls and then its lack of leadership… the party is playing the role of an obstruction in development rather than a constructive opposition,” he said.