BJP keeps workers guessing on three central Gujarat seats

VADODARA: Central Gujarat has been kept guessing by the BJP on three key seats in the region. The party did not declare candidates for the Anand, Chhota Udepur and Panchmahal Lok Sabha seats in the region.

The list declared by the Central Election Committee of the BJP on Saturday included the names of Ranjan Bhatt from Vadodara and union minister Jaswantsinh Bhabhor from Dahod.

But the party is holding its cards close to the chest regarding Anand, Chhota Udepur and Panchmahal seats.

Congress has already announced its decision of repeating former GPCC chief and former union minister and former Anand MP Bharatsinh Solanki as its candidate for the Anand Lok Sabha seat which is expected to witness a close fight between the BJP and the Congress.

Speculations on whether the BJP goes with repeat theory and gives a second chance to sitting MP Dilip Patel alias Mani or fields a fresh face, are rife within the party circles. Name of former Anand MLA Rohit Patel, chairman and managing director of Milcent Group of Companies, is making rounds as a probable since the time the party conducted a meeting to take “sense” of the seat.

Chhota Udepur has become a headache for the BJP with several local party members including district president Jashu Rathwa and other prominent leaders opposing sitting MP Ramsinh Rathwa. The rift is out in the open with letters being sent to the state leadership against the MP. The Congress at the other hand is fielded Ranjit Rathwa on the seat. Ranjit is the son of veteran party legislator Mohansinh Rathwa and also a former district panchayat president.

Sources said that in Panchmahal, the BJP was discussing other names apart from sitting MP and heavyweight Prabhatsinh Chauhan. But this does not seem to have gone down well with Chauhan who believes that he is the most suitable candidate for the seat. In the past too, he has mentioned that he will contest the polls and the party will give him a ticket. He was lobbying hard to ensure that he got through. The Congress is yet to declare as candidate for Panchmahal, but old party hand Vechat Khant has already started gearing up for the polls.

BJP’s choice for Dahod was on expected lines and Bhabhor was repeated here. The Congress is still deliberating over the constituency. Former MP’s Dr Prabha Taviad and Babu Katara have emerged as frontrunners. Taviad had won earlier from the Congress while Katara was a BJP MP who switched sides to the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.