Sans Modi, BJP men forced to rely on own steam to win bypolls.
BJP candidates — contesting the four assembly and two Lok Sabha seats — have been left to fend for themselves to win the by-elections slated for June 2. For, the party top brass, including chief minister Narendra Modi, has decided to stay away from the campaign trail this time. So, the candidates have to rely on their own image and local issues to sail through.
“Chief minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to campaign in the bypolls as he has already approved of the strategy chalked out for these polls. Also, members of his kitchen cabinet are monitoring the whole show,” said a source in the party.
“Even top state leaders are not addressing too many public meetings as the candidates are doing the rounds of meeting voters personally and chalking out a strategy related to local politics, caste and community factors prevailing in the area,” the source added.
Giving another reason for the absence of top leaders, the source further stated that the BJP is confident of winning half the seats due to the Radadia family factor.
Vitthal Radadia, who joined the saffron brigade after defecting from the Congress, is said to wield a huge clout in the Porbandar, Dhoraji and Jetpur seats. The by-election to the Porbandar parliamentary and Dhoraji assembly constituencies have been necessitated as the senior Radadia had to resign from the posts due to the anti-defection law.
His son Jayesh has also resigned from Jetpur for the same reason. So, Radadia is contesting from Porbandar, his son Jetpur and Pravin Mankadia from Dhoraji. And, the party is confident of winning these three seats on the strength of the Radadias.
The BJP is also confident of winning Limbdi where former minister and influential leader Kiritsinh Rana is in the fray. The bypoll has been necessitated by the resignation of Soma Patel, who decided to continue in the parliament.
However, the party may not find the going easy at the Banaskantha Lok Sabha and Morva-Hadaf assembly seats. Both seats were held by late Congress leaders Mukesh Gadhvi and Savita Khant.
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