Ahmedabad Diary

Cow politics hitting Gujarat govt hard 
The grant of Rs 500 crore assured earlier by the Gujarat CM for the strained cow shelters has led to fresh agitation among agrarian sector. Trustees of cow shelters (panjarapole) are out on the streets pressuring the government to allocate the grant with more cows landing in such facilities in the backdrop of the lumpy skin disease. At a rally in Banaskantha in March, Bhupendra Patel said, “We are all gau bhakts. For gau mata, Rs 500 crore is allocated in the budget.” Now the charitable trusts say they are not getting funds 
while the viral outbreak has led them to pinch their resources and finances. 

Whose game is Owaisi spoiling in Gujarat?
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi recently declared his party’s candidates for three seats for the Assembly polls. Sabir Kabliwala, president of the state unit of the AIMIM, would contest from Jamalpur-Khadia in Ahmedabad. The party’s Dalit face Kaushika Parmar will contest from Danilimda seat of Ahmedabad, while Wasim Qureshi will contest from Surat-East. Jamalpur-Khadia and Danilimda seats are currently held by Congress while Surat-East is with the BJP. In 2012, Kabliwala, a former Congressman, contested from Jamalpur-Khadia as an Independent after he was denied a ticket by the Congress. 

Patil predicts early elections in state
BJP state president CR Patil hinted at early election in Gujarat, while a countdown has begun for an announcement of assembly polls . The Election Commission team is on a two-day tour of Gujarat regarding the elections. In the meantime, Patil on Monday said at an event in Anand, “I think the election will be completed by November-end.” However, after making the statement, he perhaps realised that he is no authority over this, and said, ‘‘I do not have the authority to announce the date of the election.’’

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