BJP all out to ensure Advani wins big

It’s a constituency in Gujarat where margin of victory will matter more than the victory itself. 

For BJP’s patriarch L K Advani, a win would seem a certainty but is being keenly watched is whether he would win the with a big margin as he has been registering since his first win in 1991 from here in Gandhinagar. The political drama, first, at the time of declaring Advani’s political disciple Narendra Modi as the campaign chief and later the prime ministerial candidate, has been weighing on the minds of not just the Gandhinagar voters but the party cadre also.

Even at his campaign rallies in Gandhinagar, the NaMo chant has been the more dominant message with the cadre perhaps displaying who they were pitching in for.

So while he was projected as the party’s PM in waiting in 2009 with a victory of 25.68 per cent victory margin, the challenge this time is more on Modi and BJP to ensure a greater victory margin for the party’s senior-most leader. Advani had reportedly resisted to contest from Gandhinagar and had expressed his willingness to contest from Bhopal.

Keeping these factors in mind that it might dent the image of Modi and even Advani at a time, when the BJP proposes to send its PM candidate from the state, the entire state BJP top brass has ensured that they were seen to be putting their weight behind Advani’s campaign.

So while out on his road shows and meetings, apart from his children, son and daughter, senior  state party leaders like Anandi Patel or Nitin Patel are with him. Even as senior leaders like Amit Shah are out of the state, to ensure a victory with a huge margin for Modi, too has held road shows in his assembly constituency to garner support for Advani. They want to ensure that Advani wins with a margin which will show Modi in a good light.

The constituency has seven assembly constituencies of Gandhinagar North, Kalol, Sanand, Ghatlodia, Vejalpur, Naranpura, and Sabarmati, BJP won five registering more than one lakh votes. So while the constituency looks heavily poised in BJP’s favour, Congress has fielded Kirit Patel, who many say might give a fight in Congress strongholds like Kalol and Sanand, but will not pose a threat to the BJP’s veteran.