Gujarat Election 2022: BJP hopes for better performance in Kutch than before, Congress’s secret campaign
Kutch (Gujarat. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of maintaining its winning campaign in Kutch district in the Gujarat Assembly polls, while the Congress is campaigning quietly in rural areas and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to make the election triangular. Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is contesting on two minority-dominated seats.
In Kutch, polling is to be held on December 1 under the first phase. The district has six assembly constituencies including Abdasa, Bhuj and Rapar bordering Pakistan, besides Mandvi, Anjar and Gandhidham. There are about 16 lakh voters in six constituencies in the district, in which the number of male and female voters is equal.
About 19 percent of the total electorate is Muslim while Dalits form 12 percent and Patels about 10.5 percent. The Kshatriya and Koli communities account for 6.5 percent and 5.2 percent of the population, respectively. Dalits, Kshatriyas, Kolis, Brahmins and Rajputs have been voters of the BJP for the past two decades, while a large section of Patels, who remained with the BJP till 2012, turned against the ruling party after the 2015 Patidar agitation.
At the same time, the Congress has been the first choice of the minorities and in the rural areas it has got the support of small communities like Patels, a section of Kshatriyas and Rabaris. AAP, which has been waging an aggressive campaign in the parched region, is stressing on basic issues like education, health and water. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is taking out Tiranga Yatra in Kutch.
AIMIM has made development of minorities in the area an issue. The BJP, which has won a majority of six seats in Kutch district since 2002, is hoping to sweep this time by taking advantage of both development and a divided opposition. The party’s media in-charge for Kutch district, Satwik Gadhvi, told PTI, “We are hopeful of a clean sweep this time.” There is no opposition to BJP as people are with us for the development done after the earthquake in 2001.
According to BJP sources, the party is not paying much heed to the scattered opposition in the district and the resentment among a section of party workers in the selection of candidates is a cause of concern for it. The BJP has fielded Pradyuman Singh Jadeja, a former Congress leader from the Kshatriya community, and sitting MLA Pradyuman Singh Jadeja on the Abdasa seat.
In Bhuj seat, the party has fielded local party leader Keshubhai Shivdas Patel, known for his organizational skills, in place of two-time sitting MLA and Assembly Speaker Nimaben Acharya. Acharya’s supporters are upset with this. In Anjar, the party has fielded Trikambhai Chhanga, replacing sitting MLA Vasanbhai Ahir. In Mandvi, BJP has given ticket to Anirudh Dave instead of sitting MLA Virendrasinh Jadeja.
Jadeja has been given ticket from the neighboring Rapar seat, which was won by the Congress in 2017. Congress is running its campaign without any noise. The opposition parties are focusing more on the issues of governance, ignoring communal politics. The biggest challenge for the Congress is to win back the district and especially retain the two seats it won last time.
Congress district president Yajuvendra Jadeja said, “We are confident of winning all the six seats in Kutch district.” People here are fed up with the misrule of the BJP. BJP is adopting all tactics from communal campaign to win elections. However, with AAP and AIMIM coming into the fray, the electoral arithmetic of the region has gone awry. The Congress and the BJP fear that the AAP may cut into their votes among the Patel community, Kshatriyas and Dalits.
However, local BJP leaders are happy with AIMIM contesting as minority voters in seats like Bhuj and Mandvi will have an alternative to the Congress. Drug trafficking worth thousands of crores, water crisis and sporadic incidents of communal clashes in Kutch district bordering Pakistan are the major election issues amid preparations for the elections.
For the families of fishermen lodged in Pakistani jails, their release is the only election issue. For the families of 655 fishermen from the coastal region of Gujarat, especially Saurashtra, Porbandar, Veral, Dwarka and Magrol, bringing back their loved ones languishing in Pakistani jails, who have been languishing there for the past several years, is an election issue. Family members of fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails say they will vote in the upcoming elections only for the party which promises them to bring back their relatives from the neighboring country.
