Here was a
BJP citadel that could not be breached since 1975, but which weakened after 2012 delimitation and then crumbled in 2017, yielding to
Congress. Within the state BJP, till date, there's none to match the track record of late MLA
Ashok Bhatt, the strongman of Khadia.
Ashok Bhatt and his son, between them, won the seat 10 times consecutively. Ashok Bhatt won eight times till his death in 2010, and then his son, Bhushan, won it twice.
"The veteran BJP leader never added a 'bhai' as suffix to his name. "Right from a 10-year-old to a 90-year-old called him Ashok Bhatt. He knew three generations of nearly 8,200 families in Khadia, many by their names," says Bhushan, who lost the Khadia-Jamalpur seat to Congress's
Imran Khedawala in the 2017 polls.
Ashok Bhatt began as a firebrand labour activist and he was one of the early members of Bhartiya Kamsadar Parishad (BKP) — which fought for worker's compensation. The BKP was formed in reaction to the workings of Majoor Mahajan Sangh (MMS).
Bhatt worked as a peon in Arvind Mills till the late 1960s and even began compering circus shows like Apollo and Gemini till 1969. He was arrested during the 1969 riots and was lodged in the Bhavnagar jail for eight months. This was when Bhatt planned his career in politics. He briefly joined Praja Samajwadi Party, along with Harihar Khambholja, Brahmkumar Bhatt, Hariprasad Vyas, Prabodh Raval, Chabbildas Mehta and Indulal Yagnik. The party later dissipated.
"Many in Khadia knew Ashokbhai because of his circus compering and labour activism. He was full of wit and humour.
Gajendra Gadhkar and Nathalal Jhagdha of BJS came in touch with Ashokbhai and asked him to fight a municipal bypoll from Khadia in 1972, which he won," says Bhushan. From then on there was no looking back.
In 1975 Ashok Bhatt's active participation in the Navnirman movement led him to fight from Khadia. He won and became MLA for the first time. The BJS first set up its office in Golwad area of Khadia which later became the BJP office. Since then Ashok Bhatt never lost from the constituency.
It was said that Ashok Bhatt with other senior leaders — Bansilal Patel, Prahlad Patel, Ramanlal Shroff, Nanji Bhatt, Govindbhai Soni, and P C Patel — were the pillars of the BJS in Ahmedabad.
Ashok Bhatt held key positions in government. As a cabinet minister, he held several portfolios: civil supplies, revenue, jails, labour and employment, health and family welfare, law and justice, legislative and parliamentary affairs, cow-breeding, and devasthanam and pilgrimage development. He was also the BJP whip in the assembly from 1980 to 1990. In 2008, Bhatt was elevated to the post of the speaker of the assembly, which he held till his death in 2010.
"Earlier, Khadia included Raikhad area, which had a substantial Hindu population. When Ashokbhai died in 2010, I won during the bypoll. But in 2012 post delimitation, Khadia was merged into Jamalpur area which had 1 lakh Muslim votes and 80,000 Hindu votes. Though we won then, we have lost now," says Bhushan.
