Behind Gujarat Model, BJP eyes caste politics too

The BJP may have dumped the Congress's efforts to form caste coalition with the help of youth leaders in Gujarat as a failed ploy in the face of development, but is silently trying to build bridges with the sizeable OBC community to offset possible losses.

A senior BJP leader who is engaged in Gujarat for the last 20 years conceded that caste is as much a reality in Gujarat as in UP and Bihar and the party is wary of the emerging caste coalition to some extent.

Riding on the back of strong support from the trading community, the BJP in 2012 assembly polls had won a sizeable chunk of 44 seats out of total 47 in the urban centre of Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Vadodara and Bhavnagar.

But with Congress continuing to attack it on demonetisation and GST, the urban centres appear to have emerged as a weak point for the BJP and it is sensing some losses among the trading community that used to be its dedicated vote bank. A worrying factor for the BJP is that 18 of its 19 meetings in trading centres ended with violent protests. Among the Patidar community too, the BJP is conscious of the latent angst steered by Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti. In 2012 elections, the Patidar community almost en bloc, 63 percent of the Leuvas and 82 percent of the Kadvas, had voted for the BJP. But this time, the BJP does not have a local youth leader to counter Hardik's popularity. A swing in the 16 percent chunk of Patidars can sway the fate of 70-odd constituencies that constitute almost 40 percent of the 182-seat Gujarat assembly, sources agree.

This scenario has prompted the BJP to concentrate majorly on the OBCs and adivasis. On their strength, the two communities can alter the course of the results in close to 90 seats. Sources said that the is trying to repeat the poster boy concept applied in Uttar Pradesh elections. It revolves around picking up the most popular local leader and making him the poster boy with the picture of PM Modi.