Gujarat Election 2022: BJP to defend its pride in Patidar-controlled Amreli
In an election held in the backdrop of the Patidar quota agitation, the BJP faced the ire of voters and returned empty-handed in Amreli district, which was the hotbed of the stir for reservation in education and government jobs.
FollowAfter being thoroughly outmanoeuvred by the Congress in the 2017 Assembly election in Gujarat's Amreli district, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost all the five Assembly seats, the ruling party will seek to salvage its reputation by winning some of the segments this time around in an area which was once its stronghold.
In an election held in the backdrop of the Patidar quota agitation, the BJP faced the ire of voters and returned empty-handed in Amreli district, which was the hotbed of the stir for reservation in education and government jobs.
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The humiliating defeat in Amreli district was a humbling experience for the BJP and its leaders in Gujarat even as the saffron party managed to win the state, though with a reduced majority, in 2017 when its seat tally fell below the 100-mark.
Speaking to news agency PTI, chairman of National Cooperative Union of India and IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd) Dileep Sanghani, who is also a party member said, "Losing all the five seats of Amreli district brought bad name to the BJP unit of the district."
"BJP leaders of Amreli, be it me or Parshottam Rupala (currently a Union minister) or Naranbhai Kachadia (sitting BJP Lok Sabha MP from Amreli) have decided that this time we should come together and make the party win all the five seats," he said.
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The five assembly seats of Amreli district are Dhari, Amreli, Lathi, Savarkundla and Rajula. Political strategists believe that the situation in the run-up to the 2017 polls was very different from the current scenario and the BJP may improve its electoral show in Amreli in the next month's elections.
"There is no impact of the Patidar quota agitation in the 2022 polls. Amreli was a stronghold of the BJP for years. However, the Patidars had voted against the BJP in 2017, which caused damage to the ruling party," said senior journalist Vijay Chauhan, who has closely followed the politics of the district for more than 30 years.
"Housewives are angry with the ruling party as their budgets have gone haywire due to rising prices of essential commodities. In rural areas of Amreli, you will find just old people or young children as youths have to go to Surat in search of jobs," Chauhan said.
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Local Congress unit president Sandip Pandya said Amreli has remained one of the most backward districts of the state under 27 years of the BJP rule.
"In Amreli district, 98 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture. The farming community is unhappy with the state government as they have done nothing to improve their income. People here are fed up with the BJP government and they want a change (in state capital Gandhinagar)," said Pandya.
Voting to elect a new 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases - December 1 and 5 - and ballots will be counted on December 8.
