Political stakes high for Congress in Gujarat bypolls

The political stakes of the Congress are high in Gujarat where eight seats will go to the November 3 bypolls, which have been necessitated by the resignation of Congress MLAs in the state.
The Congress campaign is in full swing with the participation of senior party leaders from the state. The party wants to retain all the seats to show its strength in Gujarat.

On Wednesday, Congress' state in-charge Rajiv Satav compaigned in Sandheli in support of Karjan candidate Kiritsinh Jadeja.

Speaking to the media, Satav said, "The BJP has insulted the public mandate in the state, and the people will now teach a lesson to those MLAs who have ditched the party."

The outcome of the poll results will not affect the state government as the BJP is comfortably placed in the Assembly, but they will have a bearing on the Congress which wants to gauge the mood of the public after the Covid crisis in the state.

The Congress is tactically raising local issues, like in Morbi the Congress raised the issue of watch and ceramic industry to corner the government.

Senior Congress leader from state, Arjun Modhwadia, said, "The BJP government has not done anything to save the local industries in Gujarat. The farmers are also at the receiving end of falling prices of groundnut and cotton."


The Congress has fielded Mohan Solanki (Gadhada), Kiritsinh Jadeja (Karjan), Suryakant Gavit (Dang), Babubhai Patel (Kaprada), Shantilal Sendhani (Abdasa), Chetan Khachar (Limbdi), Jayantilal Patel (Morbi) and Suresh Kotadiya (Dhari) for the bypolls.

The BJP has fielded five Congress rebels out of the eight who had defected to the party.

There are 172 members at present in the 182-member Gujarat House, of which 103 are from the BJP, 65 from the Congress, two from the Bharatiya Tribal Party, one from the NCP, and one Independent member. - IANS