In Gujarat, the BJP has dropped more than a dozen sitting MPs, including Ministers Darshna Jordosh and Mahendra Munjapara, for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Two Cabinet Ministers, Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala, whose Rajya Sabha terms end in April, find a place on the candidate list instead.
The ruling party has fielded Mr. Mandaviya from the Porbandar seat in the place of Ramesh Dhaduk and Mr. Rupala from Rajkot in the place of Mohan Kundariya. With Mr. Mandaviya hailing from Bhavnagar and Mr. Rupala from Amteli, both candidates were considered outsiders.
The seats from where the sitting MPs have been dropped include Ahmedabad West, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur; Amareli, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Valsad, Porbandar, Vadodara and Surat.
In case of Vadodara, the ruling party had repeated its sitting member Ranjanben Bhatt but she opted out of the election after protests by the local cadre. In her stead, the party has selected Hemang Joshi, a low-profile local leader and vice chairman in the Municipal School Board of Vadodara civic body.
Bhikhaji Thakor, named for the Sabarkantha seat, also withdrew after facing similar protests. Now, Shobhanaben Baraiya, wife of former Congress legislator Mahendrasinh Baraiya, has taken his place. Her selection, too, reportedly led to protests by the local workers who held a rally in Sabarkantha district on Monday.
“The party workers are not happy with the decision to field Shobhanaben but we will placate our workers and they will support the candidate,” Mr. Thakor told media persons after meeting with State BJP chief C.R. Paatil in Gandhinagar.
In Surendranagar as well, the selected candidate Chandubhai Shihora was facing protests from local workers who have termed him an outsider. “He is from Morbi district, not from Surendranagar. The party should have selected anyone from Surendranagar instead of importing him from the neighbouring district,” read the social media posts of cadre.
It may be noted that Mr. Shihora was a former district panchayat president of Morbi.
Similarly, in tribal reserved Valsad seat, the party has fielded Surat-based Dhaval Patel, against whom the local leaders have launched a campaign on social media and through anonymous leaflets.
In Bharuch, the party has repeated its senior most parliamentarian in Gujarat, Mansukh Vasava, who would be taking on the AAP legislator Chaitar Vasava in this tribal and minority-dominated seat.
Meanwhile, the ruling party has fielded four Congress turncoats in the by-polls for the Assembly seats. Among those who have been fielded were Arjun Modhwadia from Porbandar and C.J. Chavda from Vijapur.
