Anti-BJP alliance in the works in Gujarat

A Bihar-like “secular” alliance, led by the Congress, could take on the ruling BJP in the coming Gujarat Assembly election, sources in the Sharad Yadav-led faction of JD(U) said on Monday.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel is holding parleys with various parties, including the Sharad Yadav faction as well as the Left, that have a considerable clout in some pockets in the state, the sources said.

Mr Yadav and Chhotubhai Vasava, the newly-appointed president of the Sharad Yadav faction of JD(U), met Mr Patel on Sunday and discussed the contours of the proposed alliance, they said.

Mr Vasava told this newspaper, “We will ally with the Congress and also other parties like the Left. We will also try to have a tie-up with Hardik Patel.”

Ahead of the Assembly polls, Gujarat might see a Congress-led “secular” alliance on the lines which won the Bihar state elections. Sources said that senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel is holding parleys with various parties, including the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal (United), as well as Left parties which have a clout in certain areas of the state. Although Patidar leader Hardik Patel would be a part of any such alliance, it was unlikely that he would join it officially as the Congress and other parties were jittery of rubbing their dalit and tribal vote bank the wrong way.

Sources also told this newspaper that the Aam Aadmi Party was unlikely to be part of such an alliance.

“We will ally with the Congress and also other parties like the Left. We will also try to have a tieup with Hardik Patel,” newly-appointed president of the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal (United) Chotubhai Vasava on Monday said.

Mr Vasava, who was appointed as the JD(U) president on Sunday, effectively removing Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar from the position, claimed that his party was in talks with the Congress and Left parties as well as the Hardik Patel-led Patidar outfit for an electoral alliance ahead of the Gujarat polls.

Sources told this newspaper that both Mr Yadav and Mr Vasava met senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Sunday and discussed the contours of an alliance.