Having grown accustomed to a bipolar battle among themselves in Gujarat, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have ruled out a triangular war in the state’s next election, despite the high-voltage campaign of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP.
Kejriwal’s AAP is attempting to turn the Gujarat assembly election into a confrontation between his party and the BJP. He rejected the Congress, claiming that it would receive “less than five seats.”
Top leaders in both the BJP and the Congress, however, are unwilling to acknowledge AAP as their principal rival. The BJP and the Congress are said to be competing in Gujarat.
There are hidden reasons for the divergent positions taken by BJP and Congress leaders in relation to AAP.
The struggle, according to BJP officials, is between their party and the Congress. Union home minister Amit Shah, who is from the state, has rejected AAP on many occasions from various media platforms, claiming that the state has traditionally had bipolar elections, despite the appearance of a triangular race.
He stated that after leaving the BJP, Shankersinh Vaghela founded the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) and Keshubhai Patel founded the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP).
Only other triangle fight occurred in 1990, when Chimanbhai Patel left the Congress to create his Janata Dal (U), which won 70 seats in the election. The BJP won 67 seats, while the Congress got 33. Chimanbhai established his first administration with the support of the Congress. That administration lasted only a few months. Later, he established a government with the help of the BJP.
The BJP won 99 seats out of 182 in the 2017 assembly election and 115 seats in the 2012 assembly election. The Congress received 77 votes in 2017 and 61 votes in 2012.
The BJP is still regarded strong in Gujarat’s urban assembly seats. There are 42 urban seats and 140 rural seats among the total of 182.
The BJP won 36 of the 42 urban seats in the previous election and 38 of the 38 seats in the 2012 assembly election. In urban regions, the Congress, on the other hand, gained 6 seats in 2017 and 4 in 2012.
The Congress won 71 of the 140 rural seats in 2017 and 57 in 2012. The BJP, on the other hand, gained 63 seats in 2017 and 77 seats in the 2012 assembly election.
The AAP factor for the BJP
The AAP is often seen as an urban-focused party, notably in Delhi and Gujarat. The BJP is concerned that the Kejriwal-led party, rather than the Congress, would eat into its votes and weaken it.
In rural regions, the BJP is already weaker than the Congress. However, if it loses votes even in metropolitan areas, the scenario might grow dangerous for the state’s ruling party, which has been in power since 1995.
Second, the AAP is portraying itself as a Hindutva party and a rival to the BJP. Kejriwal proposed printing images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh on Indian currency notes to entice Hindu voters away from the BJP. He has also not condemned the release of gangrape convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
This is why the BJP is attempting to eliminate AAP as a third force in Gujarat.
In the 2017 Gujarat assembly election, the AAP ran for 29 seats and lost all of them. It received only 0.10 percent of the vote. However, both the BJP and the Congress are concerned that it may reduce their votes in the upcoming election.
Why are both the BJP and the Congress opposing AAP in the Gujarat assembly election?
