From riding bullock carts to making tea to dancing to the beat of the dhol, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been trying every move to woo the voters of Jasdan, which will see an assembly by-poll on December 20. turning the last by-poll in the state before the 2019 Lok Sabha election into a prestige issue.
The poll was necessitated in this Congress bastion after its veteran representative and Koli community leader Kunwarji Bawaliya joined the BJP after resigning from both the legislature and the party; he was named a cabinet minister in the Vijay Rupani-led BJP government in the state in July.
For the BJP, the election is a test of its strategy to woo Gujarat’s largest community, the Kolis through Bawaliya, who is the party’s candidate. What makes the by-poll interesting is the timing of the election. It comes a year after the BJP barely managed to win the assembly polls (with only 99 seats in 182 member-assembly) and couple of months before 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
For the Congress, the election is about retaining its stronghold.
Congress candidate Avsar Nakiya, who is educated up to the primary level, is trying to appeal to voters by showing he is one of them. “I am no different than my voters who ride chhakkdas (motorcycles converted into rickshaws) for commuting. So, I go to meet them in chakkada’’, said Nakia, formely a close aide Bawaliya.
Bawaliya is a four time MLA and a one term MP and Nakia’s task isn’t easy.
On Monday, local BJP leaders, including its candidate Bawaliya, were seen dancing to the beat of a dhol while campaigning.
Both the BJP and Congress have asked all available MLAs and MPs from the state to join the campaign, which ends on Tuesday. The Congress has also roped in star campaigners such as Navjot Siddhu and Ahmed Patel. For the BJP, Gujarat cabinet minister Saurabh Patel and union minister Manshukh Mandaviya will seek votes on behalf of Bawaliya.
The Kolis, a traditional fishing community found all over India, including the hinterland, account for about 44% of the other backward classes vote in Gujarat. In Jasdan, Kolis is the largest community and their vote will decide the winner.
“When Patels are showing signs of unhappiness with the BJP over the unfulfilled demand for reservation, the BJP has been trying a strategy to woo Koli votes. It first wooed senior Congress leader Bawaliya and with his help it wants to win his community votes’’, said political analyst Jwalant Chhaya
Meanwhile, the Congress has been trying to turn the contest into test of the Rupani government’s performance. “In 2001, when the Keshubhai Government lost the by-polls, he was replaced by Narendra Modi by the BJP as Gujarat CM. The people are unhappy with the Rupani government. The BJP will lose this election and they will have to replace their CM’’, Congress president Amit Chavda recently said .
The fact that Rupani has not campaigned for Bawaliya is being projected by the Congress as sign of his nervousness.
“In the BJP, our CM never campaigns for by-polls’’, said BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya, dismissing the Congress claim.
First Published: Dec 18, 2018 07:34 IST
Source: HindustanTimes