‘I lost because of my party’

Praveen Rashtrapal, a senior Congress leader, represented Patan as MP from 1999 to 2004, when he lost to the BJP's Mahesh Kanodia. Rashtrapal, a former Indian revenue service officer and a trade unionist, says that though he had taken up many of his constituency's problems, such as railway connectivity, his party had failed to support him.

As for the performance of the sitting MP, Mahesh Kanodia, Rashtrapal says: “Though he is a good friend, I must say that he has been a total failure in parliament.” Rashtrapal said that Patan had the potential to be a site of agro-based industry, and could become a hub for medical tourism. “Scores of people from Rajasthan come here for treatment. But nothing has been done so far to leverage that capacity,” he says. Rashtrapal says he lost by around 10,000 votes in 2004. “The election campaign was not managed effectively, and except for Shankersinh Vaghela, no other senior leader visited my constituency. Nor was someone put in charge at the polling booths to bring voters.”

Rashtrapal is hopeful that the Congress will win the seat this time. “The delimitation will help the Congress, provided it takes care of the major communities.”

As told to DNA