New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to benefit from pressure from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, especially in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. In In 2017, the ruling party lost to the Congress by a narrow margin. But you should not be allowed to “acquire too much land” and have a vote share leastBJP chief strategist Amit Shah is believed to have told party leaders during his tenure meeting for Saurashtra earlier this week,
As a result of the Patidar agitation, the BJP’s numbers dwindled in 2017 23 out of 54 seats Patel-dominated Saurashtra-Kutch region, where it won 35 seats in the 2012 assembly elections. The party is now counting on AAP as it needs to win a triangular contest in this region.
Also, like in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP has started an exercise in Gujarat to collect feedback from cadres to evaluate the performance of its sitting MLAs.
For this purpose, the party divided the state into four zones – South, Central, North and Saurashtra and appointed observers in each zone to hold talks with local party office-bearers and various other stakeholders between October 27 and 29.
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‘Don’t be overconfident’
Earlier this week, Amit Shah held marathon meetings with party leaders in Saurashtra to chalk out a strategy for the upcoming assembly elections.
He emphasized that the BJP should take both Congress and AAP seriously as political opponents. “Party leaders and workers were told to work hard and avoid overconfidence. We have been given a target of 150 seats and a triangular contest in some seats, especially in Saurashtra region, will be beneficial for the party, Amit Yes “A senior BJP leader from the state told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
It is learned that Shah also said that the BJP should have a different strategy for each seat.,
But the party is confident that AAP can become a vote-cutter in the major seats it lost in 2017. “There are many seats where we lost by 1,000-2,000 votes and the Congress emerged strong in those seats. The party had to depend on some independent candidates to cut the Congress vote but AAP will now do that work. The loss to the Congress will be far greater than that of the BJP,” the leader quoted above.
For example, the Congress’ victory margin over the BJP in 2017 was paper-thin in the two tribal-dominated reserved seats Dang (768 votes) and Kaprada (170 votes).
“The Congress had emerged strong in the rural areas, especially in the Saurashtra region. We can see that you are visible in this area and they have also tried to capture our leaders. You are trying to hurt our prospects by creating a triangular contest in this particular region and tribal region. The state’s senior Congress leader told ThePrint.
Indranil Rajguru, a prominent leader of Gujarat Congress of Saurashtra, got included in Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in April this year. Meanwhile, the BJP inducted former state Congress chief Hardik Patel, who led the agitation for Patidar reservation in June.
‘BJP may field 20-25% fresh faces’
The BJP, which has been in power in Gujarat since 1995, is trying to improve its position in 2017, when the Congress won 77 seats and narrowed the ruling party to 99. This time the BJP’s target is to win 150 seats. 182 member legislature.
According to Gujarat BJP sourcesThe party can give 20-25 per cent fresh faces a chance. “The party will focus on victory instead of the ‘no-repeat’ mantra for the assembly polls,” he said. If the candidate is likely to win, the no-repeat theory will not get in the way of his ticket. It is expected that now only 45-50 fresh faces will be fielded. Gujarat BJP leader
A third BJP leader said the AAP would be able to gain some gains in several seats by targeting specific communities in the Saurashtra region, adding that it could help the BJP if it results in a three-way split. He said AAP is looking at rural and tribal areas, especially where Congress got more support in 2017 and BJP is still struggling, especially on issues related to maintenance of gaushalas.
In April, AAP cited its internal survey Claim That it is winning 58 seats in Gujarat. The party’s state in-charge for Gujarat Sandeep Pathak also said that AAP is likely to get the votes of lower and middle class votes in urban areas and rural voters who are angry with the Congress.
(Edited by Amritansh Arora)