Gandhinagar : The first phase of a two-tiered election to 323 local self government bodies covering a large chunk of the voting population in Gujarat kicks off on Sunday when six of the total eight municipal corporations go to polls with the ruling BJP on the back foot and the influential Patel community ranged against it .
The first phase of the local self government body poll covers the key municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar on November 22 while the second phase on November 29 covers the rural segments of 230 tehsil panchayats, 56 municipalities and 31 district panchayats. The BJP presently rules all the eight municipal corporations, 150 tehsil panchayats, 42 municipalities and 30 district panchayats.
While the sweeping edge is a legacy of the over 13 year long Narendra Modi rule of Gujarat, his successor, Anandiben Patel is facing a tough battle with the piqued patidar (Patel) community deciding to pitch in against the ruling party in the state.
On the warpath over their demand seeking caste based reservation in the Other Backward Class((OBC) category, their stir led by a 22 year old youth leader Hardik Patel turned against the BJP government in the aftermath of police ”atrocities” and violence after a rally on August 25 left eight people dead and scores injured.
The community which constitutes about 14 per cent of the total 63 million Gujarat population has been a staunch supporter of the BJP which first came to power on it’s own steam in 1995. With 21 per cent voter representation, the community accounts for the present chief minister Anandiben Patel, State BJP president R.C.Fardu and 42 of the total 182 legislators in the state assembly. With stir leader Hardik Patel and his associates booked under sedition charges and behind bars has only added fuel to simmering fires that has the potential to singe the BJP.
While the Patel slogan is “vote the Congress to defeat the BJP”, the ruling party while trying to divide the ranks of the agitators is burning midnight oil in a desperate bid to wean away OBC, dalit even Muslim voters, hitherto considered the vote bank of the Congress. For the first time in three decades, the BJP has fielded four Muslim candidates from three wards in Ahmedabad though it has been in power since 1987.
