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Journalism of Courage
As trends from the Gujarat Assembly election indicated a BJP comeback in Gujarat, heading for a sixth straight term, it was not without a loud rap on its knuckle that the Hardik Patel-led Patidar agitation threatened victories of some of its top Patidar leaders.
The impact began to be seen more in Saurashtra and north Gujarat regions than in Surat where it was expected, given the huge roadshow Hardik organised in the campaign finale and the anti-GST agitation. The alliance with the three youth leaders Hardik, Alpesh Thakor of OBCs and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, seemed to pay off, as Mevani won the Vadgam reserved constituency and will make his debut in the Assembly and Thakor kept leading in Radhanpur and could also make his debut as a legislator.
That the BJP could not write off 23-year-old Hardik as yet and has time to hone his political career was clear in that Patidar BJP leaders like state party chief Jitu Vaghani (Bhavnagar west), Rajnikant Patel (Becharaji), Saurabh Patel (Botad), Congress turncoat Raghavji Patel (Jamnagar rural), and Narayan Patel (Unjha) were fighting neck and neck with the Congress candidates. In Unjha, considered the epicentre of the agitation, Congress newcomer Asha Patel was putting up a tough fight leading in the initial rounds against five-time MLA Narayan Patel in the centre of the deity of the clan of Kadva Patidars.
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Even as chief minister Vijay Rupani won, his deputy Nitin Patel, was leading by only a three digit margin, as was Viramgam’s Tejeshree Patel who had defected from the Congress and was leading by a two-digit margin.
In Dhoraji constituency of Saurashtra, Lalit Vasoya, the only Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) candidate who had fought on a Congress ticket, was leading and in Morbi, another centre of the Patel agitation, a Hardik-backed candidate Brijesh Merja of the Congress was leading against BJP MLA Kanti Amrutiya who has held the seat for multiple terms. In Tankara of Morbi district too the Congress was leading by a huge margin.
Mevani and Alpesh Thakor were leading in their respective seats of Vadgam and Radhanpur throughout. In fact, in Vav, Congress candidate Geniben Thakor was giving a tough fight to BJP minister Shankar Chaudhary. In Surat though, notwithstanding the GST and demonetisation impact, the Congress seemed to have not gained much. Even in the diamond hub of Varachha, BJP candidate Kishor Kanani was leading though by a thin margin. In Limbayat, anti-incumbency seemed to be working as BJP turncoat Ravindra Patil contesting on a Congress ticket was leading against BJP MLA Sangita Patil.
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The fight was very close even for BJP’s top ministers Babubhai Bokhiriya, who was contesting Arjun Modhwadia from Porbandar, Shankar Chaudhary fighting first-timer Geniben Thakor in Vav, and Assembly speaker Ramanlal Vora who had shifted his constituency from Idar in Sabarkantha to Dasada in Surendranagar, were struggling to keep their seats. In Junagadh too, BJP’s veteran MLA Mahendra Mashru was trailing to the Congress candidate. In Kutch, while Congress candidate and spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil lost from Mandvi, the party’s candidate Adam Chaki from Bhuj was leading against BJP sitting MLA Nima Acharya.
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A major upset for BJP was the Jamalpur-Khadia seat where Bhushan Bhatt lost to Congress’s Imran Khedawala. Bhatt had inherited the seat from his late father, former speaker and minister Ashok Bhatt, while the Congress lost the Dariapur seat to BJP. It was held by sitting MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh.
