The dates for the 2019 elections are out, and among major national parties, the Congress was the first to declare its list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls. Of the 15 names mentioned in the list, 11 seats are from Uttar Pradesh and four are from Gujarat.
Former Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki will contest from Anand, Raju Parmar from Ahmedabad West (SC), Prashant Patel from Vadodara, and Ranjit Mohansinh Rathwa from Chotta Udaipur (ST).
The Congress may have been quick, but its state of affairs in Gujarat is abysmal to say the least.
Five MLAs have resigned the party in the last 12 months. Four have joined the BJP, out of which 2 received Cabinet portfolios. Another Congress MLA was disqualified from the Assembly after he was convicted in an illegal mining case and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
With the party’s strength wilting thanks to relentless poaching of MLAs by the saffron party, The Quint looks at the four names declared by the Congress in its first list.
Solanki’s Quest to Retake Anand
The most prominent name from the list is that of former Gujarat Congress President Bharatsinh Solanki. Solanki was at the helm of affairs during the 2017 Assembly elections, where the Congress performed quite well, securing 77 seats.
After the elections were done and dusted, Solanki relinquished his post as state party president in March 2018 and handed over the reins to his nephew Amit Chavda who is a four-time MLA from Ankalav constituency in Anand.
Solanki, who is the son of former Gujarat chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, will contest the polls from Anand district in Gujarat. Solanki has won the Anand seat twice in 2004 and 2009. He was also given an independent charge of drinking water and sanitation as a Minister of State in the UPA government. However, he could not ride the 2014 Modi wave and lost the seat to Dilipbhai Patel of BJP.
However, this time the Modi wave is waning in Anand, especially in the backdrop of the contentious bullet train project and rising farmers woes. To top it off, his nephew Chavda has a strong base in the district which will reap huge benefits for Solanki.
Three-Time RS member Contests for LS seat
Senior Congress leader Raju Parmar who was elected to the Rajya Sabha thrice (1988, 1994 and 2000) will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Ahmedabad West Constituency. Parmar had held key positions in different committees of the Parliament and he headed the National Commission for Schedule Castes during the UPA regime.
The Ahmedabad (west) constituency is reserved for Scheduled Castes and was won by BJP’s Kirit Solanki twice in a row (2009 and 2014). With the BJP looking to strengthen its urban vote base in Gujarat, Parmar is staring at an uphill battle to make his debut in the Lok Sabha.
New Faces Fight for BJP’s Fortresses
Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat. Modi won both the seats in emphatic fashion and in Vadodara he defeated seasoned Congressman Madhusudan Mistry.
This time the Congress has fielded former Vadodara district Congress president Prashant Patel. Patel will likely take on the incumbent Ranjanaben Bhatt, who won the bypoll after Modi relinquished the seat in favour of Varanasi.
The last time Congress won Vadodara constituency was in 1996. Although there is no word of Modi returning to Vadodara for the upcoming elections, if he does, Prashant Patel will face a challenges to dissuade Barodians from voting for the prime minister.
Meanwhile Ranjitsinh Rathwa is making his debut in parliamentary politics. The former president of Vadodara district panchayat will contest the elections from Chotta Udepur which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
Although the seat was won by Ramsinh Rathwa from the BJP twice in a row, Ranjitsinh Rathwa relies on his father Mohansinh Rathwa’s clout as the latter had won consecutive Assembly elections from the seat from 1972, albeit he did not win in 2002.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)