: As Gujarat elections loom, rural voters disenchanted with the BJP are eyeing a new challenger #IndiaNEWS In 2017, Bhagwan Bhai Patel voted for change. That year, assembly elections were held in Gujarat

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As Gujarat elections loom, rural voters disenchanted with the BJP are eyeing a new challenger #IndiaNEWS
In 2017, Bhagwan Bhai Patel voted for change. That year, assembly elections were held in Gujarat in the shadow of massive protests by the Patel community to demand reservations in government jobs.The protests had resonated with Bhagwan Bhai, who belongs to the predominantly agrarian caste group. A farmer in Junagadh district’s Moti Khodiyar village, he was finding it increasingly difficult to sustain his family on the meagre returns from groundnut and cotton cultivation. He decided to switch loyalties from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had ruled the state for five straight terms, to the Congress, its principal rival.Not only did the Congress go on to win in Manavadar constituency where Bhagwan Bhai lives, it picked up 28 of 48 seats in Saurashtra region, of which Junagadh is a part. In 2012, the BJP had won 31 seats in the region. In 2017, its tally dropped to 19. But the BJP still managed to retain the state. In the 182-seat Assembly, it won 99 constituencies to the Congress’ 78. However, the margin of its victory was the slimmest since 1995 when it first came to power on its own in Gujarat. At the heart of this reduced mandate was the BJP’s sub-par performance in Saurashtra, a predominantly...Read more

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