In the wake of mass exodus, Cong. relies on its current and former MLAs in Gujarat
The Congress has elded ve sitting legislators and seven former legislators in Gujarat, where it’s contesting 24 seats, while two seats have been given to its INDIA bloc partner, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
In the wake of a mass exodus of its leaders to the ruling BJP, the Opposition party is relying heavily on its sitting and former legislators to take on the sa£ron party, which won all 26 Lok Sabha seats from the State in the 2014 and 2019 general election, riding on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hails from the State.
The party’s sitting MLAs in the fray are Amit Chavda from the Anand Lok Sabha seat, Geniben Thakor from Banaskantha, Tushar Chaudhary from Sabarkantha, Anant Patel from Valsad, and Gulabsinh Chauhan from Panmahal.
Among the party’s former legislators are Himatsinh Patel from Ahmedabad East, Rutvik Makwana from Surendranagar, Paresh Dhanani from Rajkot, Lalit Vasoya from Porbandar, Chandanji Thakor from Patan, Jashpalsinh Padhiyar from Vadodara, Sukhram Rathwa from
Chhota Udepur, and Bharat Makwana from Ahmedabad West.
Two seats have been given to the AAP, which has elded two of its sitting MLAs — Chaitar Vasava from Bharuch, and Umesh Makwana from Bhavnagar.
The Congress has given prominence to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) by elding six Thakor Kshatriya candidates in the north and central Gujarat regions.
In north Gujarat, the party has elded Ms. Geniben Thakor from Banaskantha, a seat with the largest number of Thakor votes where, for the rst time, a leader from the Thakor community has been given a ticket.
In Patan and Mehsana, too, the party has elded Thakors, while in neighbouring Sabarkantha, tribal leader Mr. Tushar Chaudhary, legislator from the Khedbrahma ST reserved seat, has been nominated. Mr. Chaudhary is a former Union Minister and son of the late former Chief Minister Amarsinh Chaudhary.
BJP had won all the 26 Lok Sabha seats from the State in 2014 and 2019 general elections
Patel to take on Shah
In Gandhinagar, the party has elded the former president of the Gujarat Mahila Congress Sonal Patel against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In Saurashtra, the Congress has given four seats to the in uential Leuva Patel community in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Amreli, and Porbandar.