Outrage over ticket distribution in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress has come to the surface during the campaign for the by-elections to be held in six assembly seats in Gujarat. Chaudhary Samaj, annoyed at not getting tickets to former minister Shankar Chaudhary, may increase the BJP's difficulty in Tharad, Radhanpur and Byd, while the Congress, which is struggling with internal tussle, is in the field of damage control.
Voting will be held on October 21 in six assembly seats in Gujarat, including Ahmedabad's Amraiwadi. Factionalism has come to the surface with ticket distribution in BJP and Congress. Former minister Shankarbhai Chaudhary was believed to be getting tickets from Radhanpur or Tharad, but it is being told that Chaudhary's leaf was cut off due to the intervention of Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel. BJP state president Jitu Vaghani also considers Chaudhary his opponent in the organization, so he also supported Nitin Patel on this issue, which cut Choudharyka's leaf.
Gujarat government is likely to expand after Diwali. Both Alpesh and Shankar Chaudhary were in the race for the post of ministers, but now Chaudhary's card was cut so that his supporters can increase the BJP's difficulty in Tharad and Radhanpur. On the other hand, Parliamentarian Parbat Bhai Patel, who had come to campaign for the election, was agitated after seeing low attendance at the meeting held late evening in Tharad.
Former MLA Mahendra Singh Vaghela, son of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Shankar Singh Vaghela, may contest the bypoll in the Byed seat. Dhawal Singh Jhala, a close aide of Alpesh, is on the BJP ticket here. Mahendra himself wanted to contest elections from here, but on the occasion, he understood them.
At the same time, the Congress is also a victim of infighting regarding ticket distribution. Spokesperson Jayaraj Singh Parmar was angered by Badruddin Sheikh, the senior Muslim leader for the Amraiwadi seat in Ahmedabad, who did not get the ticket from Kheralu. Apart from this, the party also removed media cell member Jayesh Gayadia from the party for posting against Congress President Amit Chavda on social media.
Sending a message to the Congress high command against Chavda, he said that seven party MLAs were separated under the leadership of Chavda. Even after winning, the Congress could not appoint its chief in 11 district panchayats and the BJP took possession. The same happened with the Congress in 16 municipalities and Vadodara metropolitan municipality. The ruckus in political parties just days before the vote also points to new political equations.
