Candidate selection: BJP faces resistance from Unjha leaders

BJP faced stiff resistance from local workers and leaders of Unjha over nominating either former Congress MLA Asha Patel or party general secretary K C Patel for Mehsana Lok Sabha constituency.

A discussion committee formed by BJP leaders and workers, after holding deliberations, forwarded a list of five persons for the Mehsana LS seat on Tuesday.

Manubhai V Patel, Haribhai Naththuram Patel, Prakash Senghabhai Patel, Baldev S Patel and Somaji Dakar.

Before the names were forwarded, local leaders alleged that Asha Patel was brought into the party fold from Congress by state general secretary K C Patel with the tacit arrangement that his relative Dinesh Patel will be anointed head of Unjha APMC. They claimed that it was K C Patel who was responsible for striking off 16 cooperatives from voting during APMC election. They threatened that if either of the two is nominated then party prospects would be impacted.

A senior Unjha BJP leader said, "Asha Patel would have lost as even Congress voters believe she has broken their trust. While BJP voters would not vote for any candidate imported from other party."

In the last two Lok Sabha elections, votes from the Unjha Assembly constituency helped BJP candidate Jayshree Patel register victories.

"In 2009, Jayshree Patel won by margin of 21,000 votes. As many as 17,000 of those votes were from Unjha Assembly constituency. In 2014, she was repeated and again won by 2,35,000 votes. She had a lead of 47,000 votes over the Congress candidate in Unjha Assembly constituency. Unjha is also close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hometown Vadnagar. Any political trouble here can hurt the BJP badly," another party leader said.

The discussion committee that deliberated over the names included six Patels and one leader each from the Chaudhary, Thakor and Rabari communities. Mehsana constituency is dominated by Kadva Patidars.