Gujarat: Of gains and losses

The 2012 polls saw some major names in both the BJP and the Congress sail through comfortably while some others had to bite the dust.

For the BJP, the biggest winner was Chief Minister Narendra Modi who retained his Maninagar Assembly seat. Former home minister Amit Shah, an accused in the Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram fake encounter cases won from the Naranpura seat.

 Modi’s trusted lieutenant Anandi Patel, who shifted her constituency and went for a safe urban seat, also won from this newly delimited seat of Ghatlodia.

Modi’s another trusted face Saurabh Patel, the industries minister who too shifted from his original seat and won in the newly delimited seat in Vadodara.

Former fisheries minister and a powerful Koli leader Purushottam Solanki, a man Modi would have wanted to ignore but could not, can now gain prominence for having defeated Congress’ senior leader Shaktisinh Gohil. Prominent losers were Home Minister and Modi confidant Praful Patel who lost Himatnagar seat. He was the Kshatriya face of the BJP. Law Minister Dileep Sanghani lost from Amreli. A Patel from Saurashtra, the reasons for his defeat are said to be complacency and a disconnect with his voter base. The same factors are said to behind the defeat of Jaynarayan Vyas, the health minister and government spokesperson who lost from Sidhpur. A veteran, he has won this seat twice out of the four times he has contested.

Fakir Vaghela, the state’s culture minister lost his Vadgam seat.
But one of the biggest upsets for the party has been the defeat of R C Faldu, the party’s chief in Gujarat. A Leuva Patel, Modi had propped him up as the Patel face of the party.