BJP cadre in Gujarat’s cultural capital — Vadodara — is confident of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s victory. In fact, they have set a target to register their leader’s victory into record book by surpassing the Communist Party leader Anil Basu’s victory margin.
In 2004 lok Sabha polls, CPI (M) candidate from Arambagh in West Bengal, Anil Basu created history and literally demolished all his rivals with victory margin of more than 5.92 lakh votes. Modi supporters in Vadodara are targeting to defeat the Congress candidate by 6 lakh votes in one of the most cosmopolitan constituencies in the State, where nearly 16 lakh electors from diverse background are eligible to use their franchise.
“We not only want Narendrabhai to win from Vadodara constituency, but also like to see him winning with highest victory margin in the history of Indian general elections,” said Gujarat BJP general secretary Bharat Pandya.
Pandya, who is also in-charge of his party for six constituencies in Central Gujarat including Vadodara lok Sabha seat, said that to achieve the target, BJP has done micro level planning and given responsibilities right down to page in-charge. “BJP workers would encourage people to come out of their home and vote in large number,” he says.
Modi, who spent seven years here as pracharak of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) from 1980 to 1986, has selected one of the safest seats for the BJP in Gujarat to contest lok Sabha polls apart from Varanasi. The Gujarat Chief Minister also considers Vadodara - one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the State as his karmabhoomi.
Since 1991, the saffron brigade has won five out of six Parliamentary elections from this constituency. The only defeat came from the constituency in 1996. BJP candidate Jitendra Sukhadia lost with wafer-thin margin of 17 votes against the Congress contestant Satyajitsinh Gaekwad.
“It was a time when the BJP was passing through turmoil in the State. Infighting in the party led to Shubhangini Raje Gaekwad, from the Vadodara’s royal family, entering the fray as Independent candidate. Eventually, the BJP’s vote divided and party lost its bastion,” said a local BJP leader. However, the scenario is different, Shubhangini Raje herself was one of the proposers of Modi’s nomination, he adds.
Seven Assembly segments under Vadodara lok Sabha seat are with the BJP. Besides, the BJP is ruling party in Vadodara Municipal Corporation and Vadodara District Panchayat. In the last lok Sabha polls, BJP candidate Balkrishna Shukla won with highest victory margin in the State — 1.36 lakh votes — which was even higher than that of lK Advani, who then was the BJP PM candidate. One of the main reasons was high number of urban voters here. Of the 15.90 lakh voters in the constituency, nearly 12 lakh are from urban areas.
“local issues are not being discussed here. For the residents of Vadodara, it is a matter of pride that they would vote for a candidate, who has been seen as PM-in-waiting,” says Mahesh Thakker, a local businessman. “Recently, the city got only-of-its-kind in the country — an airport like bus-station. A state-of-the-art sports complex was the latest gift from the Gujarat Chief Minister to sports lovers of Vadodara,” says Thakker, who is also a tennis player.
Declining BJP’s claim of setting new record of victory margin in Vadodara, Gujarat Congress president Narendra Rawat says that it would never happen as BJP’s past victories were not because of its stronghold in the constituency, but thanks to the Congress party’s weaknesses. Rawat, who was earlier declared as the Congress candidate for Vadodara constituency and later on replaced by All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Madhusudan Mistry, said that the victory margin was high in 2009 just because of infighting in the Congress at local level. “However, we are united force to counter Modi and confident of creating a miracle,” he claimed.
Not admitting the defeat, a hopeful leader in Vadodara Congress believes that with nearly 3 lakh votes of Muslims and Dalits together, there is a keen contest on the cards. Vadodara also happens to be one of the seats where the Congress had held its experiment of nominating its lok Sabha candidate through election of primaries. However, that selection was superseded by the Congress high command after BJP fielded Modi.
“The cosmopolitan nature of the city is representing little India within the city. The settlers from other States feel the development happening in Gujarat compared to the places they belong to,” said Joydeep Chatterjee, an employee of a Vadodara-based public sector unit (PSU).