Nov 18, 2022: AAP trying to use Patidar Power against BJP
Summary: AAP, which emerged as the main opposition replacing the Congress by winning 27 seats with a 28% vote share in the 2021 municipal elections in Surat, is banking heavily on the memories of the Patidar agitation
Ahead of the Gujarat state assembly polls, AAP has fielded some of the prominent faces and leaders associated with the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti against the Bharatiya Janata Party in Surat.
The candidates include Gopal Italia, president of Gujarat AAP, Alpesh Kathiriya, Ram Dhaduk, and Dharmik Malaviya, all former PAAS leaders in the BJP bastions of Katargam, Varachha, Kamrej, and Olpad assembly constituencies in Surat.
The Katargam assembly constituency, which is home to the world’s leading diamond crafting companies with more than 2.77 lakh voters, is dominated by Patidar voters. Katargam is in the spotlight with the AAP’s Gujarat President, Gopal Italia, who is up against BJP’s sitting MLA and Minister of State for Urban Development, Vinu Moradiya.
Italia, hailing from Surat, is a former police official and the face of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti along with Patidar leader and BJP candidate from Viramgam assembly constituency Hardik Patel. He joined AAP as the state vice president of AAP in Gujarat in June 2020 and was appointed as the state president of the party on 12 December 2020.
AAP has fielded other prominent faces of the Patidar reservation agitation– Alpesh Kathiriya from the Varachha assembly seat and Dharmik Malaviya from the Olpad assembly seat. Alpesh and Dharmik joined the AAP in the presence of AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal recently on October 31.
Alpesh Kathiriya has locked horns with
- the former State Minister for Health and sitting BJP MLA Kumar Kanani and
- former leader of opposition of Congress in Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC)- Praful Togadia
in the Varachha assembly constituency.
Another AAP candidate, Dharmik Malaviya, is fielded in the Olpad assembly seat consisting of 3.59 lakh voters. Dharmik Malaviya is fighting against Mukesh Patel, two-term BJP MLA and State Minister for Energy. For this seat, Congress has fielded Darshan Naik, a prominent farmer leader and former District Panchayat Member to take on Malaviya and Mukesh Patel. Malaviya’s entry in Olpad is seen as a vote puller from the Patidar community and it may damage the prospects of the BJP candidate.
In the Kamrej assembly seat, AAP has fielded Ram Dhaduk, former PAAS leader against BJP’s Praful Panseria while Congress has also fielded former PAAS leader Nilesh Kumbhani. Kumbhani was the key person during the Patidar reservation agitation and a prominent face among the Patidar community. All the PAAS activities in Gujarat were operated from Nilesh’s farmhouse in Kamrej and Surat during 2015. The local Patidar voters will have to choose from among two leaders of the Patidar community (Ram Dhaduk and Nilesh Kumbhani) and the BJP candidate.
— By Sachin Ashal