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Gujarat elections 2017: Will Saurabh Patel card help BJP win Botad?

Smaller castes inclined towards BJP

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Can Gujarat BJP's flamboyant leader Saurabh Patel who was once considered a successor to PM Narendra Modi and then to Anandiben Patel in the state pull a coup of sorts and rescue BJP in Patidar bastion of Botad.

Saurabh has been away from the limelight since Vijay Rupani replaced Anandiben Patel as CM. Armed with an MBA degree from USA, Saurabh is the son-in-law of Ramnikbhai, the elder brother of late Dhirubhai Ambani. In Patel villages in the constituency, which has both Kadva and Leuva Patel, there is a discerning anger against the BJP. To make the matters worse for the ruling party, Congress has fielded a Leuva Pate leader DM Patel.

But the development works done by Saurabh in the constituency when he represented it thrice before shifting to Akota Assembly seat in 2012, are recalled by people. BJP dropped its sitting MLA Maniya Thakarshibhai Devjibhai, who had won the seat with 86,184 votes in 2012 assembly polls. Complaints are galore in the constituency that the development pace triggered in the constituency by Patel, then a high- profile minister in Gujarat government, came to a halt between 2012 and 2017.

That both the BJP and Congress are so keen on the constituency is clear from the fact that while BJP risked two seats dropping one sitting MLA and shifting the other, the Congress also brought in DM Patel, replacing Manhar Patel it earlier named for Botad just hours before the deadline for nomination filing expired to give a challenge the Gujarat's former minister.

At Sitaram Nagar in Botad, a BJP supporter Kalpesh Darbari says, "BJP would have lost the election had it not brought in Saurahbhai. DM Patel was initially in Congress. He then joined BJP and became Chairman in the marketing yard. This time he is back in Congress and contesting as MLA. But he is a light weight in comparison to Saurabhbhai."

In the nearby Sethadi village dominated by Patels, the issue of Patidar agitation for reservation kicks up a heated debate. "Saurabh Patel will not get our votes due to lotus (BJP's poll symbol) this time. Yes we had earlier been voting for BJP but not this time," says Jayesh Lania.

In Nagalpad, Ankesh Patel who works in Morbi Ceramics, said, "Saurabh Patel will get some votes from the community, which has been a traditional BJP supporter. Darbaris, Prajapatis, Brahmins, Baniya, Dalvadis, Rawaldeo and some other smaller castes of OBC give a favourable response towards BJP."

At Nagalpad, Kalubhai Samant says "500 to 600 Rawaldeo community members went to Saurabh Patel recently and requested for a boundary wall to their shamshan. He has agreed." He says he ''samaj" has been voting for BJP for long and there is no change even now.

In the Koli- Patel (OBC) dominated Dhanduka Assembly segment BJP MLA Kolipatel Laljibhai Chatrubhai is contesting against Congress' Rajesh Koli, a lawyer. Youth Congress worker overseeing the social media campaign of the constituency says he is baffled how Rajesh Koli's name was announced as the district president of Congress Harpal Singh and Raju Bhai were stronger candidates.

PADMAVATI AND PAANI

  • At Rayaka Village, the Rajput youths talk with gusto about Padmavati controversy. "We had protested against the release of the film. We are happy that the film was not released," says Harpal Singh.
     
  • Maganbhai in Botad recalls how the area faced acute water crisis which was resolved after Saurabh represented the constituency.
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