Gujarat: Ministers to visit all 27 ST-reserved Assembly seats on Tuesday to mark World Tribal Day

Ministers in BJP-ruled Gujarat will visit all 27 Assembly seats in the state reserved for Scheduled Tribes on Tuesday on the occasion of International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a minister said.

He said on Monday that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be present for a state-level celebration in Melaniya village in Dahod district to mark the day, also called World Tribal Day or Vishwa Adivas Diwas in Gujarat.

Denying it was a move with an eye on votes, state Tribal Development Minister Naresh Patel, however, agreed that the BJP planned to win all 27 tribal-dominated seats in the Assembly polls likely to be held at the end of the year.

While there are 27 ST-reserved constituencies in the western state, there are a total of 48 seats in the Assembly where the tribal population plays a crucial role in polls, Patel said.

''Tribals are spread across 53 talukas of 14 districts in Gujarat. To mark World Tribal Day tomorrow, ministers will visit all the 27 ST-reserved seats in the state to take part in events. This decision by the Gujarat government to send ministers to these 27 seats has nothing to do with the upcoming elections,'' Patel, a tribal, told reporters in Gandhinagar.

Queried on the BJP's strategy to counter the Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party in tribal-dominated seats, Patel said the Adivasis of the state are smart and cannot be misguided.

''Our tribals trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That's why all the four Lok Sabha seats are with BJP. Even taluka and district panchayats in tribal dominated areas are held by the BJP. We believe in the politics of development. This time, we are planning to win all these 27 ST-reserved seats,'' Patel claimed.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the Congress had won 15 of these 27 seats, leaving the BJP with nine victories, while the Bharatiya Tribal Party won two and one seat went to an Independent.

At the event in Melaniya on Tuesday, CM Patel is scheduled to inaugurate or perform ground-breaking ceremonies of projects worth Rs 1,300 crore and disburse scholarships worth Rs 150 crore to nearly 12 lakh tribal students.