Results show Patidar anger was exaggerated: Saurabh Patel

By Vasudha Venugopal
NEW DELHI: Among the ministers who form Vijay Rupani’s new cabinet in Gujarat is Saurabh Patel. He was in the Anandiben Patel government as well, but was dropped from the cabinet after she stepped down as chief minister in 2016.

Patel is an influential businessman-politician and is related to the Ambanis. He won by a margin of 906 votes from Botad, a Patel dominated constituency he represented thrice previously before shifting to Akota in 2012.

Speaking to ET, Patel said he was excited to work with Team Gujarat again and that he believed the “victory of the BJP in Gujarat showed the trust of Gujaratis in Modi, despite 22 years of BJP (rule)”. He said the Patidar anger was exaggerated and that factors such as anti-incumbency against some of the BJP MLAs had played a bigger role in the party losing some seats. The BJP’s tally went down to 99 this year from 115 in 2012.

“The aim of the Gujarat government now should be to reinforce Modi’s Gujarat model of development,” he said, adding that it would largely mean working towards 8-10% GDP growth, increase in agricultural income and employment, and top-class infrastructure.

“There is no doubt that Gujarat has benefitted from that vision of Narendra Modi. What he gave to people when he was in power is what the Gujarat model of development stands for — a safe climate for businesses, integrated pipeline for drinking water that exists in no other state, gas, houses, rise in incomes — these define Modi’s time in Gujarat and that is what people want even now. Our focus shouldn’t change from that,” he said. “Also, it is important to note that people of Gujarat love Narendra Modi and take pride in him and his work. If they are voting for the same party even after 22 years, it is largely because of him.”

Patel, who comes from the Patidar community that had revolted in large numbers against the BJP government before the election, said the results had proved that the issue was not as big as it was projected to be. “If the Patidar anger had worked the way it was portrayed by some, the Congress would have come to power. But the truth is it has not worked,” he said. “If the Patidars as a community were so angry with us, we shouldn’t have won seats in Surat or Ahmedabad where there are several Patidars, but we have big gains or kept our support intact there.”

In the five to seven seats where the BJP lost mainly due to anti-incumbency sentiment against its MLAs, it won’t be difficult for the party to address the issues, he said.

Patel said the biggest challenge in front of the BJP was managing people’s expectations. “Congress made promises that can never be kept … because they knew they were not coming to power, unlike us who had to be careful before making promises. We cannot go back on promises as the ruling party,” he said.