Orphaned Rajkot gets a dad taking on daughter

Admitting that the battle would be tougher this year, Nathwani pointed out that she would ‘‘have to match the strategies and organisational skills’’ of her father.’’ She added that it would have been better if her campaign had been a ‘‘family affair’’, saying, ‘‘it would have made a lot of difference had he been by my side’’. Then she quickly added: ‘‘But I have the entire Congress family with me.’’

Shukla does not seem to be sparing any punches on account of his daughter. At a public rally attended by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on November 30, he indulged in some Congress-bashing.

‘‘I felt a little bad but I know that he’s not against me, he’s just against my party. Besides, I am his daughter. I have inherited his political savvy, which had made my job easier,’’ claims Nathwani.

But genes are not all. Vala won this seat four times before he vacated it for Modi in February 2002. Besides, Shukla himself is a much-revered RSS leader, even Advani began his speech at the rally by saying, ‘‘I am happy to see Shukla with the BJP again.’’ In 1967, when the Congress called the shots in the state, Shukla was one of the two Jan Sangh leaders who made it to the Assembly. Vala, admitted that Shukla’s present made a big difference to his campaign. ‘‘His guidance is valuable,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘my campaign is against the Congress, not any individual.’’

Meanwhile, the battle has now taken a legal turn with Vala filing a Rs 5-crore defamation suit against Nathwani for dragging his name into a land scandal. ‘‘Nathwani, in her speeches, has described me as a corrupt man and a land merchant. These are baseless accusations.’’

On the charges that he was involved in the Race Course Park scam two years ago, Vala said: ‘‘The owner (Dilsukh Sheth) of this society has stated he doesn’t know me.’’

Asked for her reaction, Nathwani said: ‘‘That a case has been filed shows something is wrong. Narendra Modi dropped him (Vala) from his Cabinet and that itself is the biggest proof.’’

Nathwani has one advantage. A Brahmin married to a Lohana, she now enjoys support from both the castes. While her husband, Bakul, is not active politically, her brother-in-law, Nitin, is a Congress councillor in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.