Vijay Rupani Retains BJP Bastion Rajkot-West, But Will He Retain CM Post?

Rupani, who was appointed as Gujarat chief minister after Anandiben Patel resigned from the post last year, would have found it hard to take on much-evolved Congress president Rahul Gandhi had there been no Modi.

Interestingly, wherever Rupani spoke before or during the election campaigns, he recounted the work done by Modi at the centre as well as in the state rather than backing his own achievements.

"There is no comparison between the kind of leaders we have and those in the Congress camp. Can you really compare PM Modi with anyone in Congress?...Our visionary leadership - combined with our strong policies and clean and defined intentions will ensure BJP gets more than 150 seats in a never-seen-before result," " he said while speaking on a Zee News show recently. Rupani also hailed Modi's past achievements in the state and his leadership at the Centre. 

At times, it looked as if Gujarat was going to the general elections two years prior to the actual polls which will be held in 2019.   

But it wasn’t a cake-walk for Rupani. The battle for Rajkot-West seat, the traditional BJP fortress, was a cliffhanger for the chief minister, who was facing a challenger in Congress’ Indranil Rajyaguru.

Earlier known as Rajkot-II, the seat has been considered as ‘safe’ for the saffron party which has been representing it since 1985.

Vajubhai Vala, incumbent governor of Karnataka, had won the seat seven times for the BJP—from 1985 to 2012. In 1985, he had defeated Harshadba Chudasama. Vala vacated the seat for Narendra Modi in 2002 after the latter was then nominated as the chief minister.

Later, when Modi moved to Maninagar constituency, Vala continued his undefeated run till 2012. Later, after Vala was shifted to Karnataka, Rupani won the bypoll from the seat in 2014. Though Rajkot-West is a stronghold of the RSS, the Congress had mounted a strong challenge by bringing in Rajyaguru, the sitting MLA from Rajkot-East, to rework the caste combination in the party’s favour.

To retain his seat, Rupani had to surmount the angry Patidars as well as the trading community, which is smarting under the impact of demonetisation and roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST). Out of 3.15 lakh voters in the constituency, the number of Kadva and Leuva Patidars is the highest at 62,000, followed by Brahmins, Lohana and Jain communities.

Rajkot is the financial nerve-centre of the Saurashtra region, where the Congress is seen to have made big gains.

There are 75,000 Patidar votes in the constituency; the community, which is aggressively campaigning for quota in government jobs and education, has been upset with the BJP and its biggest face Hardik Patel is supporting the Congress.

The Congress tried to direct the simmering anger among Patidars over lack of reservation in education and government jobs under the BJP rule against Rupani.

Congress nominee Rajyaguru, the richest candidate in Gujarat elections, believed that he had won the “initial battle” against Rupani by keeping him busy in the constituency since the poll schedule was announced.

However, Rupani had been unfazed and was confidant of his victory. He earlier cited the work done by him for the people of the state as well as his constituency, especially bringing the Narmada river water to Rajkot. Rupani had said that he was not facing any challenge in Rajkot West as it is a traditional bastion of the BJP.

BJP’s Saurashtra and Kutch spokesperson Raju Dhruv said that Rupani has always been ready to solve the problems faced by the people of Rajkot or elsewhere in Gujarat.

The political career of Rupani began in his college days as he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and later joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He has been a member of Bharatiya Janta Party since its establishment. During the emergency, he was jailed for 11 months. His political career moved on a steady path and he became the member of Rajya Sabha from 2006-2012.

His training at the RSS has helped him to take charge in the absence of Modi. It can be said that after the resignation of Patel and in absence of Modi, Rupani can take charge of Gujarat and fight the anti-incumbency.