Twenty-two years on, two Patidar leaders will take on each other, this time on the battlefield of Rajkot that has been simmering with Kshatriya anger over a remark made by BJP candidate and Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, with the Congress on Saturday announcing candidates for its remaining four Lok Sabha and five Assembly seats that will go to bypolls following its MLAs crossing over to the BJP. The ruling BJP had announced Rupala, a native of Amreli, as its candidate for Rajkot seat in March while dropping its sitting MP Mohan Kundariya. However, Rupala has been facing the heat of the Kshatriyas who are protesting against his alleged derogatory remarks against the community made at an event on March 22. The decision came four days after Paresh Dhanani, a Leuva Patidar leader and former legislature party leader, threw down the gauntlet, announcing he was ready to take on Rupala, a Kadva Patidar, when the BJP remained adamant on not replacing him despite the demand from the Kshatriyas. Rupala, the 69-year-old Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, is contesting his first direct election since he lost to Dhanani in Amreli in the 2002 state elections. Rupala was the agriculture minister of Gujarat then. In 2002, Dhanani had defeated Rupala in the Assembly elections fought in the backdrop of the communal riots that followed the Godhra train burning, polling over 55 per cent votes against Rupala's 37.8 per cent. Dhanani (47) lost the 2007 Assembly election from Amreli to senior BJP leader Dilip Sanghani. However, a Patidar, Dhanani avenged his defeat by beating Sanghani, then agriculture minister of Gujarat, in the 2012 election. Dhanani retained the Amreli seat in 2017 by defeating Bavku Undhad and also served as Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly. Dhanani will be contesting in his second Lok Sabha election. He had lost the 2019 elections from Amreli to BJP MP Naran Kachhadiya. The Congress leader termed the electoral contest in Rajkot as a fight for self-respect. “On the one side, is Maryada Purushottam (epitome of restraint) Lord Shri Ram and on the other is Parshottam, who has crossed maryada (limits). Arrogant leaders who have intentionally breached limits of Ram Rajya have not surrendered yet. Therefore, I have joined the battlefield of a New Mahabharat so that I can perform the duty as directed in Gita gyan (wisdom of Gita),” Dhanani wrote on his official X handle after Congress announced his candidature. As per scripture, in the battle of Mahabharat, Lord Krishna had preached the Gita to Arjuna, espousing to fight those on the wrong side of dharma even if they happen to be one’s close relatives. Dhanani apparently sought to draw parallels. “I have come only to take back saheb to his own home in Amreli, as he is very tired due to the wrangling in Kamalam in Rajkot,” Dhanani wrote while apparently referring to Kamalam, the BJP office in Rajkot and ongoing protests against Rupala by Kshatriyas. The Congress also announced its Ahmedabad city unit chief and former mayor Himmatsinh Patel as its new candidate for the Ahmedabad East seat after its earlier nominee, former national spokesperson Rohan Gupta, quit the contest and later the party, to join BJP. Himmatsinh will take on BJP MP Hasmukh Patel. In Navsari, taking on Gujarat BJP chief C R Paatil, who had won with the highest margin of 6.89 lakh votes in the country in the 2019 elections, is Congress' Naishad Desai. Paatil is contesting the same seat for the fourth time. Desai comes from a family of freedom fighters and had been advocating the cause of labourers. He served as president of INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress) and is the spokesperson for the party in Surat. He had contested the 2002 state polls against BJP's Bhavnaben Chapatwala, widow of former state law minister Hemant Chapatwala, and lost badly. Desai, who holds BCom and LLM degrees, contested Surat Lok Sabha election in 2014 and lost against sitting BJP MP Darshana Jardosh by 5.33 lakh votes. For the Mehsana seat, the Congress nominated former Kshatriya Sena chief Ramji Thakor, who will take on Haribhai Patel of the BJP. Meanwhile, the Congress fielded its in charge Vadodara district president Kanu Gohil as the candidate for the Waghodia Assembly bypoll to take on BJP heavyweight and former MLA Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, who had resigned as an Independent MLA in January to join the BJP. Party insiders said the Congress decided to field a Kshatriya candidate against Vaghela to leverage the ongoing protests against the BJP over Rupala's remarks. From Khambhat Assembly seat, the party fielded Mahendrasinh Parmar, its former Anand district president and former general secretary of the district unit. A native of Khambhat, Parmar has also been the president of the local Khambhat unit for over eight years. He will take on BJP's Chirag Patel, who had resigned as Congress MLA last December to return to the BJP, from where he had defected to the Congress ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls. From Vijapur, from where Congress whip C J Chavda quit to join the BJP, the party fielded industrialist Dinesh Patel. He will take on Chavda, now fighting on a BJP ticket. Congress also handed a ticket to Raju Odedra, 38-year-old president of its Porbandar district unit, for the Porbandar Assembly bypoll. Odedra was the president of Porbandar district unit of Seva Dal, the volunteer force of Congress, until recently and was appointed president after senior leader Arjun Modhwadia resigned as Congress' Porbandar MLA and defected to the BJP, requiring the bypoll. He will take on Modhwadia whom the BJP has given a ticket. For bypoll to Manavadar, Congress nominated Hari Kansagara, a hotelier to take on turncoat Arvind Ladani of the BJP. Ladani had won 2022 Assembly election as a Congress candidate by defeating BJP’s Jawahar Chavda. However, Ladani resigned as MLA last month and joined BJP, warranting the bypoll.
