RS poll outcome may help Cong in ticket sharing

IN A WAY, THE FERMENT SHANKARSINH VAGHELA STOKED IN CONGRESS HAS TRANSFERRED

THE TURNCOATS’ WEIGHT TO THE BJP

senior coalition partner in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has already decided to enter the scrimmage for what it calls Gujarat’s ‘hardline Hindutva’ voter. It’s difficult to say which way the Sena knife will cut. But a crowded race is always good news for the BJP.

As the date for the first round of polling gets closer, it’s engrossing to check if the BJP will again expend 35-40 of its sitting MLAs, as was the case during the long Modi rein in Gujarat? From the Congress’s standpoint, repeating the 40-odd legislators it has would be in order, given that they stood by the party in testing times.

Of those who dumped the Congress, a few had crossed over from Janata Dal with Chimanbhai Patel or were Vaghela’s acolytes since his BJP days. They both had stints as chief ministers with Congress support in the 1990s and later joined the party. What Vaghela did is history. But Chimanbhai died a Congressman. In that sense, the RS poll was a reverse osmosis that rid the party of political converts. “Yes, you can call it purification,” conceded a Gujarat-based BJP veteran.

But the Congress will need to do a lot more to prevent a split in its average 40% vote base against the BJP’s 48. Without ingenious poll tie-ups and candidatures, it cannot easily attract social groups hit by the economic slump post-GST and demonetisation. The party has to do a Mamata Banerjee to defeat Modi on his home turf. Against a rival with mammoth power and resources, that’s easier said than done!