Gujarat BJP chief set for fourth successive term

State Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajendrasinh Rana is seeking his fourth consecutive victory in the Lok Sabha elections from Bhavnagar.

The Congress has so far not named its candidate. It is likely to field Gigabhai Gohil (elected in 1980 & 1984) or Manibhai Gandhi.

Rana (or Rajubhai as he is called) is a staunch RSS man. He is known for his clean image in the district. During his tenure as the state party president, Rana led the BJP to its clean sweep of the recent Assembly elections in the state.

In the initial stages, Mahendra Trivedi, the MLA from Bhavnagar city, and Purusottam Solanki, the MLA from Gogha, had tried to win the BJP's nod for contesting from the Bhavnagar seat. Solanki sought the nod on the basis of him being a Koli caste candidate (the constituency has approximately 60 per cent Kolis).

But, Solanki was pacified when the demands of the Koli samaj were met by allotting the Surendranagar and Kapadvanj seats to Koli candidates.

Though he is an outsider (Ranas generally hail from the Surendranagar district of Saurashtra), Rana has increased his vote share in all the previous elections he contested from Bhavnagar.

When he first contested in 1996, he could gain only 34.72 per cent votes. He defeated his nearest rival independent candidate Purusottan Solanki by a narrow margin. Solanki got 32.91 per cent of the valid votes polled.

In 1998, Rana defeated Youth Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil by a big margin. Rana got 53.03 per cent of the valid votes and Gohil could manage only 38.51 per cent votes.

In 1999, when all the victorious BJP candidates from Saurashtra saw a fall in their vote shares, Rana increased his tally to 61 per cent. His Congress rival could get only 37.71 per cent votes.

Bhavnagar constituency is dominated by members of the Koli caste. It has approximately 25 per cent Khsatriya (Darbars) and the rest are Patel, Ahirs and Brahmins. The Congress fielded Koli candidates in 1980, 1984 and 1989 and was successful. But, since 1991 the seat has gone to the BJP with the victory of Mahavirsinh Gohil.

The Congress is likely to play the caste card by putting a Koli candidate (Gohil) against the BJP state president. But it is not likely to succeed as influential Koli leader Purusottam Solanki is with the BJP.