Gujarat elections | Gopal Italia in Katargam for AAP, BJP’s worry: too many contenders

Patidars and the Prajapati community are the dominant communities electorally in Katargam. According to sources, there are 90,000 registered Patidar voters in the constituency while the Prajapati community has 75,000 voters. Since the diamond polishing units and textile powerlooms employ a lot of migrants from UP, Bihar, Odisha, and Rajasthan, the constituency also has a sizable migrant voter base.

For the AAP, Katargam provides an opportunity to flip the seat and cause an upset as the party already has a base there. Surat Municipal Corporation’s wards 7 and 8 and some parts of ward 6 are part of the Assembly constituency. In the civic body polls last year, two AAP councillors were elected from ward 7 while the party saw a single councillor get elected from ward 8. The remaining councillors are from the BJP. It is among the 29 seats that the AAP contested in 2017. The party received 2.29 per cent of votes then to end up third.

On Wednesday, Italia, a resident of Surat’s Mota Varachha area, along with his supporters reached the Swaminarayan temple at Katargam as soon as his candidature was announced. The AAP’s hand has also been strengthened by alleged divisions in the BJP. According to ruling party insiders, 23 leaders expressed the intention of contesting the seat a few days ago. Among those aspirants is Narendra Nandlal Pandav who joined the BJP in 2019 and got elected from ward 7 in the civic polls last year.

Pandav is the son of Gujarat Vataliya Prajapati Samaj president and BJP leader Nandlal Pandav. “My son has demanded the Katargam ticket from the BJP and I am hopeful that he will get it,” Nandlal Pandav said. “Our community should also get proper leadership and it is the right of a BJP worker or leader to demand a ticket, to contest Assembly elections.”

The BJP’s Surat city president Niranjan Janjmera, who also belongs to the Prajapati community, said, “I have not demanded a ticket from Katargam or any other seat in Surat. I will not contest the Assembly election this time. I will work for the candidates of all 12 seats and make them win.”

The Prajapati community started mobilising last month in an attempt to get parties to allot tickets to its members. The community organised an Ekta Yatra vehicle rally in Katargam on October 16 to press its demand. A banner displayed at the rally read, “Paksh hoi koi pan, Prajapati mange rajkiya bhagidari (Whatever be the political party, Prajapati demands political partnership)”. Among those who participated in the rally were Sunder Sartanpara, the husband of former BJP councillor Jivraj Vairya and AAP councillors Kanu Godia and Ghanshyam Makwana.

Surat-based political analyst Naresh Variya told The Indian Express, “The Katargam seat is quite critical for BJP to win in the upcoming assembly elections. Except for Niranjan Janjmera, the BJP has no other big Prajapati leader in Surat. The BJP may field a Patidar candidate from this seat. The Congress moved smartly and fielded a Prajapati candidate. In the polls, we will see a division of Patidar votes between the AAP and the BJP. If the Prajapati community comes out openly in support of support their community’s candidate, the Congress stands a chance to win. In the last two elections, the Congress got a vote share of close to 25 per cent. This time, the AAP also worked hard and it is very much active on roads as well as on social media and Italia will get good votes.”

As per Election Commission of India (ECI) data on the 2017 elections, there are 2.77 lakh voters in Katargam. Vinod Moradiya got 1.25 lakh votes, defeating fellow Patidar Jignesh Jivani of the Congress who received 46,157 votes (25.58 per cent). Moradiya went on to become a minister just like Nanu Vanani who bagged the seat in 2012. Vanani defeated Nandlal Pandav who was in the Congress at the time.

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