Congress, RJP wary of facing BJP man in Surat

SURAT, Jan 28: The largest constituency in Gujarat will probably pose the least problem to the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) in seat-sharing talks. Both are likely to be only too pleased to hand over Surat to the other.

The reason is simple: neither dares to take on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kashiram Rana, who in 1996 won this Lok Sabha seat with the second-biggest victory margin of the elections, and is standing again from here. Rana was left behind only by L K Advani, who swept Gandhinagar with an even bigger margin.

The Congress had Surat down as a weak spot even before it began its talks with the RJP. During the talks, it indicated often that it would not mind giving the seat to RJP. The latter, however, refused to take the hint. Both Congress and RJP will find it difficult to find suitable candidates for the seat. The only name doing the rounds in the Congress is that of Surat unit chief Thakorbhai Naik.

An improvement on last time, when it fielded Manubhai Kotadia, whoeventually got thrashed by 1,75,261 votes.