Modi 'tsunami' helps four Congress turncoats sail through in Assembly bypolls in Gujarat

Trends suggest that the four BJP candidates fielded from Assembly constituencies were leading with a considerable margin against their rival Congress candidates.

Interestingly, a few of these candidates had faced protests from within the BJP after they defected from the Congress. But the Modi juggernaut helped these four candidates comfortably win the Assembly bypolls.

The BJP fielded Chavda from Manavadar, Asha Patel from Unjha, Sabariya from Dhrangdhra and Raghavji Patel from Jamnagar Rural Assembly constituency in the bypolls.

Chavda, an Ahir leader, had been inducted into the Vijay Rupani government hours after joining the BJP. The leader has been a four-time MLA from Manavadar constituency.

Early in February, Congress MLA from Unjha in Mehsana district Asha Patel had resigned and joined the BJP. PM Modi’s native Vadnagar also falls in the Unjha Assembly Constituency. In the 2017 Assembly polls, Asha Patel had won this seat on a Congress ticket.

The police had arrested Sabariya in October 2018 for allegedly demanding Rs 40 lakh in exchange for not exposing a purported scam in repairing check-dams and minor irrigation schemes in the district. He is currently out on bail.

In Jamnagar Rural assembly seat, Congress MLA Vallabh Dharviya had switched to the BJP last month, but the party has not fielded him in bypolls as he was assured that he will be made chairman in one of the boards in the state government. The BJP instead fielded Raghavji Patel who had left the Congress ahead of 2017 Assembly polls to join the BJP. He had contested on BJP ticket against Dharviya, but lost.

 

Source: News18.com