Valsad, March 28 In the run-up to the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, both the Congress and the BJP are facing internal challenges and dissatisfaction among party workers regarding their respective candidates in Gujarat.
In Panchmahal District, Congress candidate Gulabsinh Chauhan encounters skepticism and a trust deficit within his party.
Some Congress workers have raised concerns from Shahera and Godhra, and they recently convened a meeting to express their opposition to Chauhan's nomination.
Party members accuse Chauhan of having close ties with the BJP and fear a potential defection back to his original party.
These apprehensions stem partly from his father's political legacy, as Somsinh Chauhan was a former BJP MLA and Transport Minister who was elected from Shahera in 1995.
Despite Gulabsinh Chauhan's representation of the Lunawada Assembly seat, the only one won by the Congress in the last elections within the Panchmahal Lok Sabha constituency, there is a palpable sense of disconnect between him and party cadres in other regions.
Meanwhile, in South Gujarat's Valsad (ST) constituency, the BJP's choice of Dhaval Patel as its candidate has also stirred unrest among local party cadres.
Labeled as an outsider, Patel's selection has led to dissatisfaction and the surfacing of dissenting voices within the BJP, mirroring incidents in Vadodara and Rajkot where opposition to the party’s candidate choices was publicly displayed.
Doubts have been cast over Patel's ability to connect with the electorate compared to the Congress candidate, Anant Patel, who is perceived to have made significant inroads with the local population.
Dhaval Patel served as the National Social Media in charge of the BJP's Schedule Tribe Morcha and is the author of a book on tribal revolutionaries.
With academic credentials from SVNIT Surat and Symbiosis Pune and a professional history with multinational corporations, Patel left his international career in 2021 to dedicate himself to the BJP. He is originally from the Dhodia Patel tribal community in Zari Village in Navsari District.
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