Rebels & inflation, BJP's challenges in Saurashtra

Not just the BJP — Saurashtra shocked the party in the 2017 Assembly polls — even the Congress remains wary of the region and its people.

In 1973, protests by students of the Morbi Engineering College over the increase in food bills spread to the entire state. It culminated in the Navnirman movement that dislodged the Congress government in the state. According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the movement shaped his political awakening.

In 2017, the BJP could win only 23 of the 54 (Saurashtra's 48 and Kutch's six) seats, with the Congress winning 30 in the wake of the Patidar agitation. While Patidars seemingly support the BJP now, there is discontent among the poor.

In the Chotila constituency, which the Congress won in 2017, workers of a small motor workshop bitterly complained about the price of LPG cylinders, which is now over Rs 1,100 and the salty water making agriculture difficult. "It is a struggle, and we have switched back to firewood," says Raju, with a request not to write his name as he fears the ruling party workers.

Read | BJP’s stronghold Saurashtra is enraged over Morbi

Raju (not his real name) and his associates are Dalits who make Rs 200-300 daily and say they would vote for the Congress because the "BJP has turned into a party of the wealthy". However, they admit to finding AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's promises of affordable schools, hospitals and free electricity attractive.

They say they spend Rs 500 a month for each of their children's education at a private school but are satisfied since their wards have learnt maths tables in English.

The BJP workers at the office of the party candidate, Shamjibhai Chauhan, dismiss complaints of price rise and accuse any who raises the question of good schools and hospitals as AAP supporters. "People will vote for Modi even if petrol sells for Rs 500. The economy has done well. Farmers are getting better prices for groundnut and cotton, and everyone has more money in their pockets," says BJP's local vice president Teja Bhai Bharwad.

The BJP's Chotila office-bearers say the government gives significant subsidies for solar power, and water supply will soon improve with new projects.

But Manoj Otaradi, an associate of the sitting MLA, Congress candidate Rutvik Makwana, claim the issue in this predominantly OBC seat could boil down to people upset with the aggression of BJP candidate, a former police officer, and his "bahubali" associates.

The perception is growing in the region, with BJP's discontented workers contributing to it, that the party has ignored them to give tickets to those who are wealthy or with muscle power.

The BJP, however, is confident of sweeping the region given a split in anti-BJP votes between Congress and AAP and Patidars ostensibly on its side.