Congress decision on test

LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCY WATCH/MANDVI

The decision of the Congress to deny the ticket to Ajay Gamit, the president of the Surat District Youth Congress and son of tribal leader Chhitu Gamit, for the Mandvi Lok Sabha seat will be put to test at the elections in the state on April 20.

The party has fielded Tushar Chaudhary, an MLA from the Vyara Assembly seat and son of former Gujarat chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhary. He will take on sitting member of Parliament (MP) Mansinh Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Five other candidates have also filed nominations for the Mandvi LS seat. These include Gamit Mohanlal Babu of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Chaudhary Madan Udaysinh of the Samajwadi Party and Vasava Hemant Fatiya of the Janata Dal (United). Chaudhary Kamlesh Prabhu and Patel Jyotishkumar Ashok have filed nominations as independents.

The Congress has always been the dominant force in the Mandvi Lok Sabha constituency. The seat was held for seven consecutive terms since 1977 by Chhitu Gamit. The Congress run was halted by the BJP's Mansinh Patel in 1999 when he defeated Gamit by over 56,800 votes. In 1998, Gamit had defeated Patel by over 15,400 votes.

There are approximately 12 lakh voters in the constituency. Of these, around 3.25 lakh are from the Gamit community, 1.25 lakh are Chaudharys, around 1.30 lakh are Dodhiya Patels, 55,000 are Vasavas, 50,000 are Muslims and a similar number are tribals who have converted to Christianity.

The candidature of Tushar Chaudhary was finalised by the Congress at the last moment. Chhitu Gamit, the Gamit tribal leader and seven-time MP, ruled himself out of the race for the seat and tried to secure the ticket for his son Ajay. However, Amarsinh Chaudhary threatened to quit the party if his son (Tushar) was not given the ticket for Mandvi.

The Congress high command thus decided to field Tushar as its candidate.

This decision has not gone down well with the Gamits, who feel Ajay Gamit would have been a much better candidate to take on Patel. Chhitu Gamit is also believed to be seriously contemplating quitting the Congress. He, however, refused to comment on the issue.

Whether the Congress has made the right choice by fielding Tushar Chaudhary against Mansinh Patel will be known when the results for this Lok Sabha seat are out.