BJP plays rabid fire round

He is called the Leuva Patel face of Narendra Modi8212;and with good reason.

He is called the Leuva Patel face of Narendra Modi8212;and with good reason. Last week, when BJP youth wing president Jitendra Vaghani kicked off his campaign from this urban seat, he openly flaunted the party8217;s Hindutva card. It didn8217;t matter to Vaghani that the party had chosen to ride on the 8216;development8217; issue this time.

8220;It8217;s a fight between dharma and adharma. If the BJP loses, Muslims in Gulf countries will burst crackers in celebration. Do you want that,8221; he said, setting off a round of applause.

The choice of Vaghani for this seat was a last-minute surprise sprung on the Congress8217;s Shaktisinh Gohil. After having announced the name of J.T. Dave, the party changed its mind and made Vaghani file his papers on the last day of nominations. This, after denying a ticket to sitting MLA Sunil Oza.

Understandably, Oza is breathing fire. He has filed his papers as an Independent and is now likely to contest on Uma Bharati8217;s Bharatiya Janshakti Party BJSP ticket. Given the frantic efforts by the BJP to stop Oza from contesting, it seems Vaghani8217;s Patel credentials are not enough for him to win from this seat that has a triangular caste combination8212;Patels, Kolis and Kshatriyas. 8220;I have reached a point of no return. Not after this humiliation,8221; said Oza, sitting in his office that still bears his nameplate with the BJP8217;s lotus symbol.

Though Oza believes he can wrest the seat against the might of both the BJP and the Congress, he might just help Congress8217;s Gohil scrape through with a margin of some thousand votes. 8220;The Keshubhai group has blessed Sunilbhai. Not all Patel votes are going to go to Vaghani,8221; one of Oza8217;s supporters said.

Sitting in his office, Gohil sounded confident. 8220;I won in 1990 when the Congress suffered its worst defeat. I won again in 1995 when all the ministers were battling anti-incumbency. Last election was different due to Godhra, but 2007 is different. The BJP will be proved wrong if they think they can work on those lines.8221;

In 2002, BJP8217;s Sunil Oza polled 63,172 votes and won by a margin of 10,034 votes.

His closest rival was Shaktisinh Gohil of the Congress

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In 2007, BJP8217;s Jitendra Vaghani is up against Congress8217;s Shaktisinh Gohil. Both have no criminal record

Shaktisinh Gohil Congress

Cash: Rs 10,000

Bank: Rs 1,15,737

Shares: 9 lakh

Car: Baby Austin Rs 2 lakh

Gold: 200 gm

Agricultural land worth Rs 21 lakh

Two houses: Rs 20