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Ahmedabad:
All eyes are on Gandhinagar---the
seat of Hindu mascot L.K. Advani who is facing Congress candidate
Mr. Suresh patel and high profile independent Mallika sarabhai for
Delhi darbar.
Gujarat State capital Gandhinagar is also known as the green
capital, with the number of trees perhaps exceeding the voters.
Housing the secretariat and the official residence of members of the
cabinet, a sizeable chunk of Ahmedabad city and Sanand — where the
Tatas are relocating their Nano manufacturing plant — now comes
under the new limits of Gandhinagar constituency.
No matter what are the constituency’s contours, pre or post
delimitation, it remains identified as L K Advani’s seat, which he
has won with handsome, comfortable margins ever since he contested
from 1991 onwards.
Though it has a sprinkling of rural areas, it is one constituency,
which can boast of areas which are well-planned and have relatively
better civic amenities. Now, with the coming of the Nano plant,
areas like Sanand are also expected to receive a fillip in
infrastructure work, as both ancillary units and real estate prices
are expected to shoot up.
The issues
When a prime-ministerial candidate fights election from a
constituency, the local issues pale in the background. For
Gandhinagar, the fight is notional, or as independent candidate
Mallika Sarabhai makes it, more on moral grounds. For Advani,
nurturing the constituency has not been difficult, as it comprises
the better parts of Ahmedabad city, the state capital and the rural
mix.
Rural Gandhinagar, like other parts, can have complaints of
occasional power cut, or of development that has not taken places in
smaller pockets. But the presence of the BJP and Advani together
loom large here. For areas like Sanand, where villages in peripheral
areas are coming under the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, it
means promises of more amenities.
Advani, in a bid to make a youthful posturing, had just before the
announcement of the polls in the city area, gone on an inauguration
spree, notably of gymnasium, jogging park, swimming pools in various
areas of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation as well.
For the BJP workers, it is not just about ensuring Advani the
maximum votes, but to have the satisfaction of having a possible PM
from the constituency. For the opponents, the satisfaction is to try
being a credible opposition. The voters believe that Advani’s
continued presence ensures that the development continues, in some
or the other measure.
The candidates
Election result is a foregone conclusion in this constituency, what
with the congress having to struggle each time to put up a semblance
of fight against Advani, who is the BJP’s PM candidate this time.
Advani continued to breeze through the constituency taking on
retired DGP P K Datta to former Election Commissioner T N Seshan.
The debut of danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, who takes on Advani,
supported by civil rights group this time, has only perked up the
election scenario.
Sarabhai not only falls back upon her family’s legacy and
association with Ahmedabad, but also in her own right as an
activist–artist. She intends to take on Advani on “moral grounds”.
First Sarabhai, and then the Congress in turn have dared Advani to a
public debate after the latter dared PM Manmohan Singh to a US-style
presidential debate.
Congress candidate Suresh Patel, the sitting Kalol MLA, remains a
staid candidate in comparison, alike the 2004 Congress candidate
Gabhaji Thakor..
To give credit to Team Advani, the victory margin has remained more
than one and a half lakh votes consistently for the last three
terms. This time, the Advani mask has also debuted along with the
Modi masks. The Congress candidate has a semblance of network and
supporters to take on electioneering, but for Sarabhai, it is public
donations, Facebook campaigns and endorsements from known faces like
Salman Rushdie that is helping her in the campaign process.
This is one constituency, where the only counting that matters,
besides moral posturing, are the nuanced changes in the margins of
victory.
The atmosphere is politically now charged in Gujarat-- the
laboratory pf Hindutva as
Gujarat holds much importance both for the Congress and BJP. The
Congress, which targeted Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for
his alleged communal profile, is aware of the fact that its need to
do something else to stop the BJP onslaught in the state. Modi has
extended his control to the Congress bastions, which is worrying the
Congress at this moment. Out of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state,
the Congress is looking forward to win at least 12-13 this time,
while BJP wants to win 20.
During the 2004 general elections, the Congress did very well by
winning 12 out of 26 seats, even though the wave was in favour of
Narendra Modi and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The BJP
had to be content with 14 seats.
After the spectacular win in Gujarat Assembly last year, the BJP is
on a new high. All Modi baiters were sidelined and new cadres are
contesting from most of the seats in Gujarat. On the contrary, the
Congress has been unable to find a leader, who can lead them to
victory.
There will be no surprise, if BJP manages to sweep Gujarat and win
20-21 Lok Sabha seats this time. However, the Congress is ready to
give it a run for its money with the help of Prime Minister Dr.
Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and youth icon Rahul
Gandhi.
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