Cracks in Congress before Rajya Sabha polls to ensure 3 seats for BJP in Gujarat

The BJP has fielded three candidates while the Congress two candidates for four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat. The elections for the Rajya Sabha were to be held on March 26 but had to be postponed due to the nation-wide lockdown.

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Elections to 55 seats of Rajya Sabha are to be held after the nation-wide lockdown. Four of these from Gujarat are to be held on June 19. The BJP has fielded three candidates while the Congress two candidates for these four seats. However, politics has heated up in Gandhinagar ahead of the elections with two Congress MLAs tendering their resignation.

Earlier, five Congress MLAs had resigned. This has ensured the defeat of one of the two Congress candidates. The beneficiary of this development is bound to be Narhari Amin. What transpired to prompt the Congress MLAs to resign? ETV Bharat’s special report on the cracks in the Congress ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.

The elections for the Rajya Sabha were to be held on March 26 but had to be postponed due to the nation-wide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The Election Commission has now announced to hold the elections on June 19. In Gujarat, the BJP has fielded Abhay Bharadwaj, Ramilaben Bara and Narhari Amin for the four seats for which elections are to be held while the Congress has fielded Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.

Comparison between state Assembly election and Legislative election

For BJP the Rajya Sabha election has become a last-ditch battle as the party, which has a majority in the Lok Sabha, does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has put in all its resources at work to win the maximum number of seats in the Rajya Sabha in these elections.

Politics in Gujarat heated up after the BJP fielded four candidates and the Congress two for the four seats. Congress is engaged in preventing its MLAs from quitting but seems to have failed as five of its MLAs – J V Kakadiya, Soma Ganda, Pravin Maru, Pradyumnasinh Jadeja and Mangal Gavit – resigned before March 26. Now on June 3, Karjan MLA Akshay Kumar Patel and Kaprada MLA Jitubhai Choudhary tendered their resignation before assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi. This has shaken up the Congress. The party is breaking but the Congress high command has failed in keeping the MLAs intact.

In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP had won 99 seats while the Congress had managed 77 seats. Today, the BJP has 103 members while the Congress has 66, the latter’s strength having been reduced by 11 MLAs. Seven of its MLAs have resigned ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. Congress has accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading to ensure the victory of three Rajya Sabha seats. Giving his reaction, state Congress president Amit Chavda alleged that to win the Rajya Sabha elections, instead of fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the BJP and officials in the Chief Minister’s Office like Kailashnathan were trying to break Congress MLAs under the instructions of the Prime Minister. He claimed to have proof in support of his charge. He expressed the confidence that the party has got adequate numerical strength and required strategy to win both the seats.

The Congress MLAs who have resigned have their own grievances. Congress is riven with groups, they have no faith in the party, Congress will not be able to come to power again, the central leadership of the party is weak, the party is not working as a strong opposition party, are some of their main complaints against the Congress.

Those who have left the Congress to join the BJP have faith in the party because it is in power and therefore they can get their work done in their constituencies. BJP also has money. Since the BJP is need of MLAs, those who have resigned must have bargained with the party’s leadership. The day Jawahar Chavda and Kunwarji Bavalia had left the Congress the same evening they were inducted into the cabinet as ministers.

In short, the BJP played a big game ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections compelling as many as seven of the Congress MLAs to resign. The strength of the Gujarat assembly has now been reduced from 182 to 173.

BJP’s third candidate Narhari Amin is believed to have worked out the strategy behind obtaining the resignation of two Congress MLAs. As it is the victory of Abhay Bharadwaj and Ramilaben Bara is certain. The decision to field Narhari Amin as the third candidate could have been aimed at garnering the support of Congress MLAs belonging to the Patel community. Narhari Amin is a seasoned politician, having once been a deputy chief minister.

In the Nationalist Congress Party, former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela has been replaced by Jayant Boski with the aim of putting the NCP in a bargaining position during the Rajya Sabha elections, having one important vote.

By breaking Congress MLAs, the Gujarat BJP has ensured the victory of its candidates on three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. It remains to be seen who among the Congress candidates, Shaktisinh Gohil or Bharatsinh Solanki, manages to win.

The polling for the Rajya Sabha seats would be held on June 19 from 9 in the morning till 4 in the evening. Counting of votes will begin at 5 in the evening. The results will be declared on the same day.