New Delhi: Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, the Gujarat Congress is a divided house with four MLAs resigning from the Assembly while two more MLAs could also tender their resignations.
The war within the party began after the Congress announced two candidates for the Rajya Sabha – Shakti Singh Gohil and Bharat Singh Solanki, but holding back the name of the earlier announced candidate Rajiv Shukla. The BJP fielded the third candidate Narhari Amin who is a Patel and a prominent businessman.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Purshottam Rupala said that the “problem is within the Congress in the state and people are impressed with the work done by the state government led by the BJP”.
The Congress is struggling to keep its flock together as 14 MLAs have been sent to Rajasthan, a Congress-ruled state. But the problem is that the Congress hasn’t understood the caste equations in the state as both the candidates belong to the Kshatriya community and there is a sense of resentment in the Patidar community, said sources.
A BJP leader said, “the Patidar issue has been pumped up by the Congress by propping up Hardik Patel and if you will not give the due then there will be problems and the BJP has rightly chosen a Patel as a third candidate.
The Congress will send observers to the state.
B.K. Hariprasad, former party in-charge of Gujarat, was reportedly supposed to go to Gujarat as an observer but he denied that he is being sent to the state.
Another problem is that the Congress cannot now withdraw the candidature of Bharat Singh Solanki as the kind of support and rapport Madhav Singh Solanki has within the Congress may harm the party, said sources.
State President of the Congress Amit Chavda has categorically said that “the party will contest both seats”.
A BJP leader asserted that the current state leadership is lightweight and they should bring back the veterans to keep the party together as the new setup is not able to contain rebellion in the state unit.
The four seats which go to the polls for the Rajya Sabha in Gujarat should ideally have had two seats each for the Congress and the BJP but now the Congress will retain one while the BJP is set to get three seats.
The Congress state unit had proposed two candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls – Arjun Modhwadia and Bharatsinh Solanki but the party pitched in for Shaktisinh Gohil and Rajiv Shukla. After stiff opposition from the state unit, Shukla was dropped and replaced by Solanki, son of former Chief Minister and Union Minister Madhavsinh Solanki.
Modwadia, meanwhile, has said that he is more interested in state politics.
