Gandhinagar: After Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley it is now the turn of newly anointed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to represent Gujarat.
He will be joined in the Rajya Sabha by Jugalji Thakore, a young OBC face who is being rewarded by the BJP. With the Election Commission issuing two separate notifications for the two seats from Gujarat, the ruling BJP is all set to sleep walk to victory electing the two.
The predictability of the results notwithstanding, the election in this Gujarat capital was not without its share of drama. Turncoat Congress legislator
Alpesh Thakore, who had quit the party but not his Vidhan Sabha seat, made clear his reasons on Friday when he voted for the BJP candidate defying the Congress whip and then resigned from the Assembly.
He was joined in this maneouvre by his supporter, also a congress legislator from bayad, Dhavalsinh Jhala.
The elections were caused after Union Ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani, both elected from Gujarat quit their seats on being elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded general election.
The BJP also managed the vote of NCP legislator Kandhal Jacdeja and two votes of the Bhartiya Tribal Party of Chottu Vasava who had tilted the scales in favour of Congress strongman Ahmed patel in the last rajya sabha polls.
Vasava was miffed with patel after he did not return the favour in the lok sabha polls where he had contested but the Congress put up a candidate spoiling his chances.
