With the LS poll approaching, the Bharatiya Janata Pary has begun weighing the electoral prospects of various contenders for party tickets for the two Ahmedabad seats.
With the Lok Sabha poll approaching, the Bharatiya Janata Pary has begun weighing the electoral prospects of various contenders for party tickets for the two Ahmedabad seats. After the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, the Ahmedabad seat has been bifurcated into two: Ahmedabad East and Ahmedabad West, with the latter being reserved for scheduled caste.
As Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar seats have traditionally been the strongholds of BJP, the party has set its sights on bagging all the three seats this time. With LK Advani, the party’s prime ministerial candidate, all set to contest G’nagar seat, the BJP leaders have already started the exercise to select candidates for the two seats of Ahmedabad. Party sources said there was a strong possibility of Harin Pathak, present MP from Ahmedabad and former minister for state of defence, being fielded from Ahmedabad (East) seat. He is said to have strong contacts with grassroot workers and people, and is also supposedly close to Advani.
Madhu Patel, president of the women’s cell of BJP and former chairman of the standing committee of AMC, is another strong contender for the party ticket. Yet another claimant is Kamlesh Patel, who vacated the Maninagar assembly seat for Narendra Modi. Patel is now a close aide of Modi.
As for the Ahmedabad (West), the reserved seat, a section of the party is in favour of fielding the sitting Dhandhuka MP, Ratilal Verma. The logic in his favour is that the Delimitation Commission has included Dhandhuka parliamentary seat in Ahmedabad East and West this time. The names of ex-deputy mayor Dinesh Makwana, Fakir Waghela, Zaver Chavda and Ashwin Banker have also cropped up as probable candidates.
Makwana is considered a close aide of Narendra Modi, and he was appointed as deputy mayor of the city during the second tenure of Modi as the chief minister. Ashwin Banker is the ex-president of the SC cell of the party and a known Dalit leader.
Another faction of the party is rooting for Fakir Waghela, a prominent Dalit leader and minister of social justice and empowerment, sports and cultural activities.
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