BJP in a fix over choosing candidate for Junagadh seat

With mining magnet Solanki, known for his proximity to former Home Minister and Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah, considered as fund-raiser for the party, it will be bit difficult for the BJP to decide this case. The party has always rewarded him. When Kodinar, his traditional assembly constituency, was reserved in 2012, he was shifted to Lok Sabha in 2009 itself.

The saffron party had made public its list of candidates for 21 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Wednesday. However, Junagadh was among the five constituencies in Gujarat for which the declaration of candidates was withheld.

BJP leaders in Junagadh say as many as 21 local leaders have staked claim for the ticket, including Solanki. However, the top leadership of the party is in a fix with Solanki’s arrest by CBI in the Jethava murder case. The Kodinar strongman wields influence in his community of Karadias and Kolis, the two communities which hold decisive votes in the constituency, they further say.

Jasa Barad, who quit as Congress MLA from Veraval and joined the BJP last month, is also a Lok Sabha ticket aspirant. But the party has not named him either for Lok Sabha or for Veraval Assembly constituency by-elections so far.

Junagahd district BJP chief and former minister Kanu Bhalala is also in the line for the Lok Sabha seat. However, he is still smarting from the defeat at the hands of former chief minister Keshubhai Patel from Visavadar Assembly constituency in the district in the December 2012 elections. The party has announced to field Keshubhai’s son Bharat for Visavadar bypolls after the seat fell vacant following the resignation of the aging former CM. “The top leadership of the party would keep caste matrix in the districts while finalising its candidates,” said Sanjay Koradiya, president of Junagadh city BJP.

Asked if Barad would be acceptable to party workers given his relatively recent re-entry in the party fold, Koradiya said, “He was originally a BJP leader. Anyway, for the BJP, the party candidate matters and not the individual who gets the ticket. So, party workers would work with full enthusiasm even if Barad were to get the ticket.”  To woo fishermen voters in the twin districts of Junagadh and Gir Somnath, the BJP has nominated Chunibhai Patel, who comes from that community, to Rajya Sabha.