VADODARA: A defector will be taking on a man who may not have changed his party, but is being called an outsider in the byelection for the Karjan assembly constituency.
It will be the first time in its history that a bypoll will take place in this constituency.
The byelection was necessitated after Akshay Patel resigned as an MLA and defected to the BJP from the Congress. Patel is contesting on the seat on BJP ticket this time and is being challenged by Kiritsinh Jadeja of the Congress.
While Patel is being targeted for changing loyalties and questioned about switching parties, Jadeja too has his own set of worries. Many in the Congress are not happy with the decision of giving a ticket to Jadeja as he is being seen as an outsider. Jadeja is from Saurashtra and settled in Karjan. Some members of his party had even made representations seeking that a ‘local’ person should have been given a ticket.
Patel was also facing a tricky situation as Satish Nishaliya was also seeking a ticket on the seat. Nishaliya had lost against Patel in the 2017 assembly general elections. But BJP’s senior leaders claimed that Nishaliya was with Patel. “After filing nomination, Patel left with Nishaliya in the same car and they together waved to supporters. Seasoned party workers have been given district panchayat constituencies and our well-oiled organisation as well as election machinery is at work to ensure victory,” said a senior BJP member camping in the constituency.
The Congress wants to retain the seat as it has been its bastion. Out of the 13 polls held for the constituency so far, it has won 10 while the BJP has won two and Janta Dal (JD) once. Veteran Chandu Dabhi won the seat on four occasions including once from the JD and thrice from Congress.
A Congress spokesperson said that this time around, the party had got its homework right and had reached the grassroots level. “It is wrong to call Jadeja an outsider. He has been working in the constituency since years now and has become a household name due to the relief work he did during the Covid-19 lockdown. For once, we have our organisation in place even at the level of a single page of the electoral roll,” he said.