GANDHINAGAR: Gandhinagar constituency is famed for sending BJP heavyweights such as AB Vajpayee and LK Advani to Delhi for the last three decades. Now, it is gearing up to vote for the present party president Amit Shah, who many fancy as the country’s future prime minister once Prime Minister Narendra Modi retires. Shah has replaced Advani, who was the MP from here since 1998. Advani, who had won the 2014 election with a margin of 4.83 lakh, has already been forgotten in the constituency and people are rallying behind Shah.
His candidature from Gandhinagar has also enthused party cadre with the state unit focusing on increasing the winning margin by over eight lakh votes, the highest in the country. Opposite Shah is the sitting Congress MLA from Gandhinagar North, C J Chavda, a former bureaucrat. Voters feel that Gandhinagar is a prestigious seat for the saffron party and it is evident from the choice of candidate. The constituency has a sizeable population of government servant with Patels, Thakors and scheduled caste consisting of around 40 per cent of the population.
“Amit Shah is the man behind Modi’s success and he will be PM after Modi. I will vote for him as he is active and is the decision maker in the party unlike our sitting MP LK Advani, who is now old and rarely visited the constituency,” said Jagdish Thakor, 47, an auto driver-turned-shop owner.
It is not, however, not an en masse support for Shah, though his supporters definitely outnumber those questioning his candidature from a safe seat like Gandhinagar. “He is the party chief and strongest man in the BJP. Why did he choose to contest from the safest seat in Gujarat? His poll prowess would have been tested if he would have contested from north Gujarat or Saurashtra where the BJP will face a tough electoral battle,” said Narsingh Vekadia Patel, who is from Junagadh, but will exercise his franchise from Gandhinagar seat.
Gandhinagar with a majority of urban population, traditionally a BJP vote bank, has five assembly constituencies falling in Ahmedabad and two in Gandhinagar. In 2017 Assembly elections, the Congress won the two in Gandhinagar while BJP got five in Ahmedabad. But the party is hopeful that people will vote in large numbers for Shah, who was the election in charge for Vajpayee and Advani in the past and has been closely connected with the people in the area for over 30 years.
“There is a feeling among party workers that Amit Shah ji has been busy campaigning for candidates across the country, so it upon them to ensure that he wins from Gandhinagar with the highest margin,” said Gujrat BJP spokesperson Prashantbhai Vala. There are many who feel that Shah contesting from Gandhinagar is a prestige issue. “I have heard from my grandparents that BJP has done a lot of development work in the state. Amit Shah contesting from here shows the party considers this an important seat,” says Parth Sekharia, 22, who voted for the first time in 2017 Gujarat assembly elections and this will be his first LS elections.
People also feel that PM Modi should get a second chance. “There is nobody else but BJP which can do so much development work. Never before any PM has taken tough decisions like Modi did — action against Pakistan and corruption,” says Bhavna Thakor, who works as a cook.
‘Sardar Patel statue not built to spite Nehru’
PM Narendra Modi said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s imposing statue in Gujarat has not been built to “belittle” former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Speaking at a rally in Amreli, Gujarat, he said though the Congress says Patel was their leader, no leader of that party has visited the statue so far