Gujarat Polls Highlights: 456 'crorepati' candidates in fray; BJP's Jayanti Patel richest with Rs 661 crore

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Monday scheduled to address four public meetings in poll-bound Gujarat. The meetings were in Palitana, Anjar Gordhanpar and Rajkot.

All three parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party -- are leaving no stone unturned to woo people. There have been allegations and counter-allegations in the race to the 182-member Assembly.

Gujarat goes to polls on December 1 and 5, while votes will be counted on December 8.

Sitting among party workers and supporters at his office, Lalit Vasoya, Congress MLA from Dhoraji, sounds unconcerned about the BJP's star-studded campaign compared to his party's low-key canvassing and expresses confidence of another win on the back of his constituency outreach and people's "anger" with the state government.

As many as 456, or around 28 percent, of 1,621 candidates contesting the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections are 'crorepatis' who have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Monday.

The BJP tops the list with a total of 154 'crorepati' candidates, followed by Congress with 142, and AAP has 68. The average asset of candidates in the fray is Rs 2.56 crore, the ADR report informed.

# PM Modi targets Cong, says it needs to shun 'divide and rule' strategy to win back Gujarat's trust

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday again targeted the Congress over the participation of Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar in the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, and said the opposition party must shun its "divide and rule" strategy to win back the trust of the people of Gujarat. Addressing a poll rally in Palitana town of Bhavnagar district in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates, Modi said the people of Gujarat have rejected the Congress because the state had suffered a lot due to the party's policy of inciting people of one region or community against another.

# Instead of bringing change in the state, the BJP changed the CM, and three CMs were changed in six years. That means the BJP government hasn't done any work in the state: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge

# Jay Narayan Vyas, who quit BJP earlier this month, joins the Congress party along with his son Sameer Vyas.

# For families of fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails, getting their kin back only poll issue

"We are neither interested in allowances nor any poll promises; I want our son back. I haven't seen him for the last two years," said 56-year-old Ankita Thapariya, the mother of fisherman Ankit who has been languishing in a Pakistani jail for illegally entering the neighbouring country's water territory. The situation is no different for the families of 655 fishermen from the coastal region of Gujarat, especially from Saurashtra, Porbandar, Veral, Dwarka and Magrol, as their loved ones have been languishing in Pakistani jails for the last several years.

# In Godhra, AIMIM seeks to cement gains it made in 2021 civic elections

After an impressive show in last year’s civic body polls in Godhra, a communally-sensitive town in Gujarat, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM is now trying to build upon those gains in this Assembly seat in the upcoming state elections, banking on the minority base and division of votes of other candidates. The AIMIM had won seven seats in the Godhra Municipal Council (GMC) polls last year and even tied up with independents to keep the BJP out of power.

# BJP MLA Parshottam Solanki confident of win in Bhavnagar-Rural

The BJP has once again reposed faith in five-time MLA and prominent Koli community leader Parshottam Solanki for Bhavnagar-Rural seat in the upcoming Assembly polls, despite his ill health. While 61-year-old Solanki asserts he has resolved all issues of people in his Assembly segment and they will vote for him, the opposition Congress claims this time he will not be able to overcome the anti-incumbency. This Koli community-dominated seat came into existence in 2012 following delimitation. It was carved out from the erstwhile Ghogha and Bhavnagar South constituencies.

# Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge hits out at PM Modi. He says, "...A person like you (PM Modi) claims to be poor. I'm (Kharge) one of the untouchables. People drank your tea, nobody would've had my tea...If you say it for sympathy, people are smart. How many times will you lie? He's the leader of lies..."