High profile BJP leader visits top Patidar leaders as subtle electioneering for assembly polls start in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: With assembly elections in the state is more than a year away, ruling Bhratiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat has already started ironing out the creases along the board across the state.

Last week, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi went to meet Naresh Patel the Chairman of Khodal Dham Trust in Kagvad at his house after inaugurating a local project in the city. While Patel is directly not involved in politics, he enjoys a commanding position within the powerful Leuva Patel community of the state and his statements or actions have always been viewed through political lenses.

Right after Sanghavi’s visit to Patel, BJP Gujarat President Jagdish Vishwakarma visited Maulesh Ukani, the chairperson of Umiadham the nerve centre of Kadva Patidar community in Rajkot.


While the party has been projecting these meetings as more of courtesy meets and reach out programme for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s completion of 12 years as the prime minister of india, the political significance is not lost on observers, more so when it comes at the backdrop of BJP winning more than ninety percent seats in the local body elections in April.

Gujarat BJP media cell coordinator Prashant Vala refused to attach any political motive to the visits and said that these meetings were purely a part of the ongoing outreach programme of the party where the party leaders are meeting the eminent citizens with the account of developments of last twelve years.

However, the political derivatives of these visits are clear and significant. Observers maintain that meeting the two top leaders of the prominent Patidar sub-groups by the party top leadership is a demonstration of its deliberate act of balancing the politically sensitive communities.

BJP while had always enjoyed major support from the Patidar community was reduced to double digits in 2017 in the wake of Patidar Anamat Andolan. While Congress rode the movement to win 77 seats in Gujarat first time since late ninties, it failed to retain or nurture the gains and eventually was decimated in 2022.