Can the Congress pull it off in Gandhinagar civic polls?

The gloves are on again. The actual campaigning will start later this week, but hectic parleys and intense strategising is on and permutations and combinations are being worked out for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation elections later this month.

While the BJP is almost confident of victory on its effervescent agenda of Narendra Modi-led development, the Congress's attack is two-pronged. One — to capitalise on the upset of pulling in turncoat BJP's Pravin Patel and through him the Patel community. Second — the discontent among around 60-65,000 state government employees.

Not one to take any elections lightly, the BJP has formed a six-member committee of senior leaders, including Shankar Chaudhary and I K Jadeja. But when asked about their campaigning agenda, the functionaries of the party scoffed saying, "Do we really need an agenda? Like all other polls, we will campaign on Modi government's development agenda, how he has changed Gujarat and the same will happen in Gandhinagar when BJP is elected to power."

Though Lal Krishna Advani has maintained Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency since a long time, it was the Congress who won the zilla panchayat elections last year. BJP is conscious of this, and claim the zilla panchayat electorate consisted of rural voters, which is the Congress's traditional strength. This is, however, an urban area, except for about 7,000 village voters in the periphery.

Congress strategy
The Congress is also aware of its traditional strengths and weaknesses, but with GMC,  confidence levels run high. A reliable source in the party claims they will certainly grab 22 of the 33 seats. Their problem of factionalism has already had an impact on ticket allocation of five seats, but, "we are dealing with internal dissent head on this time," he said.

Their tone is steady. In addition to chalking out an elaborate campaign plan, community meetings with "upper caste communities like Brahmins and Patels" have been happening over the last fortnight. A senior Congress leader confided Patels are not with the BJP. "They have been taken for granted for a long time. They have only been used by the BJP," the leader said.

"Representation from all castes and their winnability factor was kept in mind for ticket allocation. There are Darbar, Chaudhary, Patel and Muslim candidates," sources in the Congress said. Significantly, BJP has not fielded a Muslim candidate. Congress claims around 3-4,000 minority voters could influence a couple of seats. "But that is not the criterion. In the past elections BJP has fielded Muslim candidates for symbolism, but not this time. We are observing closely," the source said.

The poll agenda will be on expected lines of reducing taxes, give regular water supply et al. Congress's in-charge of this polls former deputy CM Narhari Amin says the town used to be one of the greenest with so many trees and vegetation, but it is not anymore because of BJP's blind development agenda. "We will plant trees again and make Gandhinagar a Green City," he said.

Congress's recent makeover, with a new state president Arjun Modhwadia and new AICC incharge Mohan Prakash, has infused the ranks with fresh energy. With the ambitious president's eyes already set on the 2012 assembly polls, the party is on a roll. In an elaborate meeting last week attended by Prakash, all the factions of the party, including Shankersinh Vaghela, Siddharth Patel, Tushar Chaudhary and Amin came together to pledge their unity in a fight against Modi.

The Government Employees’ factor
The sleepy capital town named after Bapu has an exceptionally high number of incumbent and retired government employees. Their estimated population is around 50-60,000 - nearly 50% of the electorate. The employees' union has often been at loggerheads with the Modi government over a host of benefits due to them. Issues like not being given complete payments as per the Sixth Pay Commission and allotment of land and quarters to retired employees are some of the pending issues. Whether these contentions will surface during elections remains to be seen.

Another aspect perceived to make a dent in the BJP is that these people who work in the Sachivalaya know exactly what is going on inside. Congress sources claim these people well understand the government's false claims of 'vibrancy'. However, sources in the union feel the employees are divided on their political allegiance. Despite the pending issues, some are wedded to the saffron ideology, a source claims.

Both the parties are poised to commence their campaigning aggressively by the coming weekend. Around 1.35 lakh voters will cast their vote in the GMC elections.