Gujarat: BJP banking on ex-Cong MLA Kotwal to win tribal-dominated Khedbrahma

He will get some votes of both the Congress and the BJP in the area, Ramnikbhai Chauhan, a shopkeeper in Khedbrahma, said.One of the major issues in the assembly segment, known as a pilgrimage site for its Lord Brahma temple and Goddess Ambika temple, is joblessness among the youths in the area.Here, apart from government jobs, agriculture-related works and small businesses, you have no other source of employment.

The tribal-dominated Khedbrahma Assembly segment in Gujarat's Sabarkantha district has remained a Congress fortress. This time, the BJP wants to breach it with the help of tribal leader Ashvin Kotwal who has crossed over to the ruling party from the Congress.

Kotwal had won the Khedbrahma seat in northeastern Gujarat as a Congress candidate in the 2007, 2012 and 2017 assembly polls bagging on an average of 50 to 55 per cent votes. He joined the BJP in May this year and has been fielded from this seat.

Khedbrahma seat has remained with the Congress except for the 1990 election when the saffron party managed to win the seat.

Around 70 per cent of the around 2,82,000 voters in the constituency are from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, whereas about four per cent are of Scheduled Caste (SC) and two per cent are from the minority community. The voters are primarily into farming, and small-time businesses and are also migrant workers.

Talking to PTI, Kotwal said, ''I am confident of ensuring my party's (BJP's) victory from this seat. I have worked for the area for the last 15 years. My goodwill, the BJP's government initiatives for tribals will help us win this seat.'' About the motive behind quitting the Congress, Kotwal said it was impossible to work for the development of tribals by being in the opposition camp. ''If you are in the opposition party, it is difficult to bring in development in the area. So for the development of tribals, I decided to join the BJP, and I have people's support,'' he said.

This assembly segment will go to polls in the second phase of voting on December 5. This is the only seat out of the four assembly segments in the district which is with the Congress.

Rameshbhai Solanki, a local Congress supporter, mocked the BJP, saying, ''In Khedbrahma, the BJP believes that by roping in a Congressman (Kotwal) it can make this assembly seat 'Congress-Mukt' (free of Congress)." The Congress claims that it is not the candidate but the election symbol that matters in Khedbrahma.

''It is not about whether I am a candidate or somebody else is. It is a stronghold of the Congress, and the voters here identify themselves with our party symbol,'' Congress candidate Tushar Chaudhury told PTI.

The Congres candidate's father late Amarsinh Chaudhary, has been chief minister of Gujarat and three-time MLA from the seat. ''My father did a lot of development work here. People here love and respect my father a lot,'' he said.

The seat is a perfect example of the Congress's old recipe of KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) caste engineering, which once used to be its winning formula in the state.

''Here, the Adivasi, Muslims and Harijans vote for the Congress, and the Patels, Rajputs and Brahmins vote for the BJP. If this formula remains intact, we will again win this seat,'' a district Congress leader claimed.

Apart from banking on Kotwal's popularity and mass outreach in the area, the BJP unleashed a campaign branding Chaudhury as an ''outsider''. However, the BJP itself is facing the anger of a section of party workers and local leaders over fielding Kotwal.

On the other hand, the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party has made both the Congress and the BJP are apprehensive about the new entrant playing a spoilsport.

The AAP has nominated local tribal leader Bipinchandra Gameti for the seat.

''Although tribals here vote for the Congress only, Bipinbhai of the AAP has acceptance among the tribals and the locals. He will get some votes of both the Congress and the BJP in the area,'' Ramnikbhai Chauhan, a shopkeeper in Khedbrahma, said.

One of the major issues in the assembly segment, known as a pilgrimage site for its Lord Brahma temple and Goddess Ambika temple, is joblessness among the youths in the area.

''Here, apart from government jobs, agriculture-related works and small businesses, you have no other source of employment. I used to work in a factory in Surat, but I lost my job during the Covid lockdown. Had there been a big industrial unit in the area, we wouldn't have had to leave our homes,'' Ashok, a 28-year-old diploma holder, said.

Sensing the need for addressing the problems of unemployment in the area, the BJP has promised to bring industries to the region if it wins the seat. ''We will bring industry, especially agro-based, for the people of this area. Once manufacturing units start coming, the entire economy of this area will change,'' Kotwal said.

Chaudhury said, if elected, he would try to bring some areas in the constituency under the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation for setting up industries and a medical college.

''What has the BJP done in the last 27 years and the MLA for the three terms? I will try to bring in GIDC here to set up at least one major industry for employment generation,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)