According to sources in the party, the campaign committee chief’s post has been kept for Naresh Patel only.
New Delhi: The Congress in Gujarat is preparing for a tall Patidar leader who is also the chairman of the influential Shree Khodaldham Trust (SKT) to make entry into the party, and while expecting more leaders to join, the party has also kept key organisational positions vacant. According to rumblings in the party, the campaign committee chief’s post has been kept only for Naresh Patel.
A well-placed party leader also revealed that by taking the current voters’ mood in the state, the Congress will only get to win 40 to 45 seats, but if Naresh Patel joins, the numbers could go up to 60. However, senior party leaders indicated that the early setting of a CM face will make them nullify all the internal surveys which have been showing a gloomy prospect for the party. “There are 90% chances that Naresh Patel will be made the CM face before elections,” a party MLA said.
Moreover, the party leaders believe more Patidar leaders and institutions will support the party after Naresh Patel’s entry into the grand old party. At the same time, over the past few weeks, a rift in the BJP between another powerful Patidar, Nitin Patel and BJP, is gathering pace. “Nitin Patel may also join the Congress if the BJP doesn’t negotiate well with him as he is very dissatisfied with the party,” a senior Congress functionary said. The Congress functionary said, “Kunvarjibhai is also in talks with Congress, he may come back to us, soon.” Kunvarjibhai Mohanbhai Bavaliya is Minister of Water Supply, Animal Husbandry, and Rural Housing in the Government of Gujarat.
Jagdish Thakur, Gujarat Congress unit president, told The Sunday Guardian, “I don’t know when Naresh Patel will come into Congress. Moreover, I haven’t talked to other leaders. If the other leaders also want to come, I can’t say. BJP leader Nitin Patel has started talking to Congress leaders, so we have also continued talking to him, about whether he will come into the party or not. I don’t know that.”
Gujarat has 182 Assembly seats, of which 48 seats belong to the Saurashtra region which has a higher concentration of Patidars. Considered a stronghold of the Patidars, the Congress in the last Assembly election in 2017, had won 30 seats in the region, double the number from what they had tallied in 2012, when they won only 15 seats.
The seats dominated by Patidars are 30 across Gujarat. Congress leaders believe the inclusion of Naresh Patel will help Congress win 18 to 22 seats of the 30 seats. A senior analyst in Gujarat, who works for one of the major parties in the state, said, “Naresh Patel will be coming into the party as CM face in the Congress, and other leaders will follow him into the Congress seems very difficult; more importantly, Nitin Patel himself is a very tall leader, and considers himself as a CM face, the only reason for Nitin Patel to leave the BJP and join Congress will be that that he is very much dissatisfied with the BJP, that is the only reason he may come in the Congress.” There are no high chances for the Congress even if Naresh Patel comes into the party; he comes from the Patidar community which has traditionally been with the Congress. The question is though Patel votes may totally shift to Congress, how much rise will there be in their vote share? Also, it is to be seen how acceptable they are on the ground.