Ahmedabad Diary

Hardik Patel still haunting Congress? 
After seven Gujarat Congress MLAs reportedly cross-voted in the Presidential election  senior leaders are anticipate poaching of party candidates in the run-up to the Assembly elections. According to information received from sources, five of the cross-voters were Patidar (Patel) MLAs while one belongs to a tribal community and one an OBC community. The five Patidar MLAs were once considered very close to Patidar trailblazer and former Congressman Hardik Patel, who recently joined BJP. Sources say that when Hardik Patel joined the BJP, these five leaders were to join the party with him, but BJP changed the strategy last moment and as part of the new strategy, they stayed in the Congress. According to the new strategy by the saffrons, the grand party leaders will join one by one as the elections approach. 

Polls: Jagdish Thakore vies for a bigger pie
From peddling soft Hindutva to reminding minorities of the stand taken by the party over the years, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Jagdish Thakore is leaving no stone unturned to make his presence felt across the religious divides in the election-bound state. Addressing a convention of the party minorities wing in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, the state chief remembered former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s statement made and said, “Former prime minister Manmohan Singh used to say that the minorities have the first right over the treasury (tijori) of the country.” It is important that some senior Congress leaders do not agree with this statement. Further, some believe that such statements in a divided environment would only lead to the consolidation of communities benefitting the BJP. 

Dist leader’s conduct embarrasses BJP 
Since the establishment of Gujarat, there is a liquor ban in the state, but the Congress has been making accusations against the ruling BJP for a long time that the government is not enforcing the ban strictly. Recently, a video of Chhota Udaipur district BJP president Rashmikant Vasava – seemingly tipsy – cosying up to fellow woman minister Nimishaben Suthar went viral. With election month nearing, the incident has brought much embarrassment to BJP leaders. 

Dilip Singh Kshatriya
Our correspondent in Gujarat dilipsingh@ newindianexpress.com