BJP eyes tribal votes, Cong looks to check defections

THE BJP AT PRESENT HAS 111 MLAS AGAINST THE FORMER’S 67

The ruling BJP in Gujarat is aiming to break the Congress’s hold in the state’s tribal belt ahead of the crucial assembly elections later this year, even as the latter is struggling to keep its flock intact.

“In 2017 assembly elections, CR Paatil had kept a target of bagging all the 12 urban and semi-urban seats in Surat. This time around, a similar strategy is being worked out for tribal areas,” said a senior BJP leader, who wished not to be named.

Paatil, an MP from Navsari, was party’s in-charge for Surat district during the 2017 elections. He is now the party’s state unit president. Surat, which has a sizeable Patidar population, was at the centre of an agitation by the community demanding reservation under OBC category. Despite the challenges, BJP won all 12 seats. In Surat district, the party won 14 out of total 15 seats.

Of late, BJP has been facing challenges from the tribal belt, a stronghold of the Congress.

In March, the Bjp-led state government urged the central leadership to halt the Par-tapinarmada river-linking project to avoid the displacement of tribals from their ancestral land. Thousands of tribals had been protesting for over a month after the project was announced this year. The project has been put on a back-burner since.

For Congress, the biggest challenge is to stop its leaders from migrating to the BJP. On May 3, tribal leader and threetime Congress legislator from

Khedbrahma constituency, Ashwin Kotwal, switched sides, joining at least 13 other sitting and former legislators who have quit the grand old party to join the BJP in Gujarat since the 2017 assembly elections.

Kotwal, who was the Congress chief whip in the assembly, had been sulking ever since the party chose another tribal leader Sukhram Rathwa as the leader of opposition on December 3, 2021. While quitting the party, Kotwal had said he was “unhappy” with the way the “Congress was functioning, especially in the tribal areas”. The Congress, however, saw the move as a betrayal and called it “opportunistic politics”.

“People like Kotwal claim they want to work for the tribals, but they make it look like a big joke by joining a party that works against the interest of tribals,” said Manish Doshi, spokesperson for the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC).