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    BJP changes electoral dynamics of Gujarat by fielding Amit Shah from Gandhinagar

    Synopsis

    The state party leadership had left it to the party high command to decide on the candidate for the high-profile seat.

    Amit-ShahAgencies
    Shah’s candidature from Gandhinagar, according to BJP insiders, also signifies the importance the party places on the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi.
    The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has significantly changed the electoral dynamics of Gujarat by deciding to field its national president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar.

    The state party leadership, which had earlier met for three days to finalise candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat, had left it to the party high command to decide on the candidate for the high-profile seat amid clamour from workers for fielding Shah.

    Shah replaces nonagenarian veteran LK Advani, who has been a member of Parliament from Gandhinagar since 1991, barring for a couple of years between 1996 and 1998. As a matter of fact, Shah had handled Advani’s Lok Sabha campaign in the initial days of his political career.

    Shah’s candidature from Gandhinagar, according to BJP insiders, also signifies the importance the party places on the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP national president from where it had won all the 26 seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections.

    The BJP put up its best show in the state in the Lok Sabha polls five years back, but it witnessed a major erosion in its support base over the last five years. It recorded its worstever electoral performance in two decades in the 2017 Gujarat elections in the wake of the Patidar movement for reservation. Officially, the party maintains it is hopeful of recapturing all the 26 seats in the state, but there are many within who believe that several seats, particularly in north Gujarat and Saurashtra, are showing unfavourable signs.

    “Amit bhai’s candidature will change things in the areas where we are not our strongest, particularly in north Gujarat,” said a mid-level member of the party.

    The 2017 Gujarat election results indicated the BJP was trailing in four parliamentary seats in north Gujarat — Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Mehsana and Patan, besides Junagarh, Amreli and Surendranagar in Saurshtra and Anand in central Gujarat.

    On its part, the Congress has been trying to strengthen its presence in the Gandhinagar seat. It recently held its all-important Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Adalaj near Gandhinagar. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had started his electioneering from Dharampur in south Gujarat. For the record, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, made her debut public speech after formally joining the party at a rally in Adalaj after the CWC meeting.


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