The party, however, will give preference to Patel community in the next round of announcement of candidates for rest of 112 seats.
The ruling BJP tactfully avoided any announcement of the names of the candidates for seats which are highly affected by the Patel community led reservation agitation. The party gave only 10 of the 70 seats for which candidates were declared on Friday, that is 14 per cent of the total. The party, however, will give preference to Patel community in the next round of announcement of candidates for rest of 112 seats.
A senior Patel community leader of BJP said, "This cannot be implied that Patel community has been meted with injustice. The party has tactfully avoided any announcement of names of the candidates for the seats where the Patel community is in dominance. The only reason is the stop the Congress from making any change in their list according to our list. This is our strategy and it is obvious that the Patel community will get equal representation in the final list."
There are 35 seats in Gujarat, including Saurasthra, Kutch, north Gujarat and central Gujarat region which are Patel community dominated. However, the impact of agitation is limited in North Gujarat and some pockets of Saurashtra. But the BJP is still trying to read the minds of Patel community voters and party is still clueless.
"It is very difficult this time to come to conclusion that in which direction Patel votes would go. This is the reason why party is acting very cautiously on the selection of candidates. Looking at the first list, it can be seen that party would hardly change the sitting candidates, but it is all about the strategy and high command would have taken all the parameters under the consideration," added the leader.
Especially when we look at Mehsana, Morbi, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh districts and Surat city, the Patel leaders from BJP have been facing ire from their community. The community believed that their leaders failed to sympathise with their people or did not standby them when they needed the support.
The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) also is another factor in this polls as the organisation has demanded tickets from Congress. The BJP is waiting for the Congress' list so as they also can make changes in the final list if required.
The leader further added, "I do not believe that PAAS will be a deciding factor for us after the incident of video release involving him in sexual act. This would surely change the minds of Patel community and our Patel candidates will receive good results of the same."
The patel card
There are 35 seats in Gujarat, including Saurasthra, Kutch, north Gujarat and central Gujarat region, which are Patel community dominated.
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