Party Hopping
In a blow to the state Congress, the BJP gets Koli leader Kunwarji Bavalia to cross over
The Congress party’s rising fortunes in the state suffered a big setback on July 3. Sixtythree-year-old Kunwarji Bavalia, an influential Koli leader who helped consolidate the party’s position among the Kolis and other OBC voters in Saurashtra, switched sides and joined the BJP. And within hours of resigning as a Congress MLA, he was sworn in as an MoS in Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s government.
BJP leaders are hailing it as a big coup, pulled off by Rupani with BJP chief Amit Shah’s full backing. Insiders say Rupani had been trying to woo the Koli leader for quite some time now. Now that he is in, Bavalia’s been allocated water resources, animal husbandry and rural development, portfolios that could help him firm up the BJP’s support base in rural Gujarat.
A Congress loyalist of long standing, Bavalia had reportedly been sulking since Rahul Gandhi, advised by the state Congress leadership, turned down his name as the leader of the opposition in the state assembly (deciding instead to appoint a younger Patel leader, Paresh Dhanani). Bavalia was also passed over for the state unit chief ’s position, to which Amit Chavda, a 42-year-old OBC leader, was appointed.
The BJP hopes that Bavalia’s induction and elevation as a minister will help the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Analysts say that a significant section of his Koli and OBC supporters in Saurashtra view him as a victim of the Congress party’s ‘injustices’.
A five-term MLA and MP for one term, Bavalia played a key role in queering the BJP’s prospects in Saurashtra during the assembly elections last December. The saffron party’s tally shrunk to a mere 27 of 57 seats in the Saurashtra-Kutch region (it had won 35-plus seats in earlier polls).
Bavalia recently took over as president of the influential All India Koli Samaj, where he succeeded President Ramnath Kovind. BJP insiders say his induction would also help the BJP in several other states where the community is present. The Rupani government now has two Koli ministers, the other being Purshottam Solanki.
Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Rupani on joining the BJP, Bavalia also used the occasion to hit out at the Congress president. “Rahul Gandhi can’t succeed in a party riddled with casteism. In fact, he himself is playing caste politics,” he said. Dhanani hit back saying Bavalia had finally succumbed to his “lust for power”. Shocked by the defection, Congress leaders point out that the Koli leader had been given everything he asked for, including tickets for his relatives.
Bavalia’s first test will come in less than six months when he returns to contest the assembly byelection at Jasdan, this time as a BJP nominee.
BAVALIA WAS SULKING AFTER HE WAS PASSED OVER FOR THE OPPOSITION LEADER’S POST