BJP, AAP field several turncoats in Gujarat polls, Congress says loyalists its 'first choice'

The BJP and AAP have rewarded several leaders, who quit rival political parties and joined them, by offering tickets to them to contest Assembly polls in Gujarat

The ruling BJP and the AAP have rewarded several leaders, who quit rival political parties and joined them, by offering tickets to them to contest the upcoming Assembly polls in Gujarat, while the Congress has preferred to field party loyalists, including 21 sitting MLAs.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), opposition Congress and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have so far declared candidates for 160, 89 and 174 seats, respectively, for the election to the 182-member Assembly to be held in two phases next month. As per the BJP's list of 160 candidates it released on Thursday, out of 20 MLAs who resigned from the Congress after winning the 2017 Assembly elections, the ruling party has fielded nine. It has also given a ticket to former Congress working president Hardik Patel.

However, the BJP is yet to decide the fate of former Congress MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Bhavesh Katara as it has so far not named candidates for the seats they represented. Not just those MLAs who resigned as Congress legislators in the last five years, but also those who had resigned before 2017 have found a place in the BJP's list. Some of these former MLAs are Raghavji Patel (Jamnagar Rural) and Balwantsinh Rajput (Sidhpur).

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Rajput had resigned in July 2017 ahead of the Rajya Sabha election and went on to contest the polls on a BJP ticket. Patel was expelled from Congress for voting against the party mandate in the Rajya Sabha election. He was defeated in the 2017 Assembly election, but won the byelection in 2019 after the then sitting Congress MLA from Jamnagar rural seat Vallabh Dharaviya resigned and joined the BJP.

No leader from rival political parties who joined the Congress in the recent past has figured in the list of 89 candidates released by grand old party so far. Congress's state party chief Jagdish Thakor said that the party workers will be the first choice. "Our first choice is our workers. Those workers who have strengthened the Congress to challenge the BJP despite being victimised by the ruling party will be the first choice. If any leader from other party joins the Congress then they will not be given the ticket, irrespective of how big the leader is," he told reporters.

Thakor added that there was nothing surprising in former Congress leaders being fielded by the BJP in the 2022 polls. "We have formed our strategy keeping this in mind. Not a single Congress turncoat is going to win. Even the BJP's own workers will not let them win," he said. The list of 174 candidates declared by the AAP shows that it has also fielded several candidates who quit Congress, BJP and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) to join it.

AAP has fielded the former Congress spokesperson Kailash Gadhvi from the Mandvi seat. It has also fielded former BJP president of Surat PVS Sarma from Surat distirct's Majura seat. Former Congress leader and the party's candidate in the 2017 Assembly election Bharatsinh Vakhala has also been given AAP's ticket from Devgadh Baria. The party has also fielded the former BTP president of Narmada district Chaitar Vasava from Dediapada. Former BTP leader Praful Vasava who unsuccessfully contested on Nandod seat in 2017 joined AAP and has been fielded by the party from the same seat for the 2022 election.

On Friday, two-term BJP MLA from Matar seat Kesarsinh Vaghela also joined AAP and it is yet to be seen whether he gets ticket to contest from AAP. Vaghela was denied a ticket by the BJP. Some of the former BJP leaders who have joined the Congress in the run up to the election are former BJP MP from Panchmahal and several term MLA Parbatsinh Chauhan, former BJP MLA from Dabhoi seat Balkrishna Patel and Bayad MLA Mahendrasinh Vaghela, who is son of former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, among others.