Muslims to seek their share from Congress pie

Mar 24, 2012

RAJKOT: The red carpet rolled out by chief minister Narendra Modi to welcome Muslims at his 'Sadbhavana Mission' fasts has made the community realize its political clout at least in Saurashtra and Kutch. Muslim votes are a deciding factor in at least 18 assembly seats in the region. Thanks to Sadbhavana fasts, Muslims seems to have gained in confidence and are in a mood to bargain with Congress for their share in the political skyline of Saurashtra and Kutch.

On Saturday, at least 250 Muslim leaders, most of whom who owe their allegiance to Congress, from Saurashtra and Kutch will hold a meeting in Palitana town of Bhavnagar district where they will discuss the issues concerning their community and the strategy for ensuing assembly elections in Gujarat.

"There are at least 18 assembly seats in Saurashtra and Kutch where Muslim votes are a deciding factor. However, no political party, including Congress, is very keen to give tickets to Muslim candidates in assembly and parliamentary elections. No Muslim leader from the region has been nominated to Rajya Sabha by any party for a long time now," a senior Muslim leader from Saurashtra said.

"In the past, except Amreli district, Muslim candidates had been elected from different assembly constituencies. Now there is only one Muslim MLA. Mohammed Javid Pirzada has been elected on Congress ticket from Wankaner in Rajkot district," said M K Bloch, ex-law minister in Madhavsinh Solanki's government in 1981-85.

"Muslims traditionally have voted for Congress, but nothing much has been done to empower the community. In fact, the benefits of central government schemes are not reaching the Muslims in the state. Time has come for the community to decide its political future. Muslims hold significant number of votes in 18 assembly seats in Saurashtra and Kutch yet they are being neglected. Muslim leaders need to discuss why this has happened and what is the way out?" said Nusrat Panja, secretary, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. Panja had contested assembly election on Congress ticket from Somnath-Veraval in 1998, but had lost.

Another senior Muslim leader said, "We want more from Congress in the coming assembly elections. Frustration is building among Muslims.''

Bhuj, Mundra, Jamnagar, Wankaner, Dhoraji, Bhavnagar, Mahuva, Junagadh, Somnath, Mangrol, Kodinar, Manavadar and Rajkot are among the places where there are a sizeable number of Muslim voters.

Who will Congress, BJP field for RS from Gujarat?

Sunday, Mar 18, 2012

This weekend is that of fervent political speculations - over the Rajya Sabha candidates of Congress and BJP.

The terms of three BJP MPs -Vijay Rupani, Arun Jaitley and Kanjibhai Patel -and Congress’s Pravin Rashtrapal will be ending this month. While BJP late on Friday evening announced that Jaitley will be repeated, guesswork is rife on the other two candidates.

Names of Shivlal Vekariya or Bhavnaben Chikhalia from Saurashtra and Bhupendrasinh Chudasama or IK Jadeja are doing the rounds.

Another name is that of Ram Jethmalani’s son Mahesh, but party sources are not particularly keen on him.

The theory is that the combination of a Saurashtra candidate & Kshatriya has to be maintained. “There can’t be two candidates from outside,” a source said. While the others are known faces in political circles, Vekariya is a relatively low-key much respected veteran from Saurashtra. He was an elected BJP MP in 1991 but left with Shankersinh Vaghela and rejoined in 2002.

“But these are mere speculations, one can never tell, period. There can and will be a surprise. Modi is taking a call on these two candidates. Jaitley was central leadership’s decision. All we know is that it will be a very strategic decision keeping the forthcoming state and then LS elections in mind,” a source said.

BJP sources believe Modi strictly follows no-repeat policy. There has been buzz that Rupani might be repeated but sources believe his utility would be higher in managing elections for Saurashtra where BJP is on a sticky wicket.

Lack of clarity prevails in Congress as well. One theory doing the rounds is that Rashtrapal will be repeated with an eye on the party’s depleting Dalit vote bank.

Other probable candidates are former Sabarkantha MP Madhusudan Mistry and Shankersinh Vaghela. Mistry has risen to the top echelons of the party in the Congress working committee.
Though Vaghela heads the campaign committee of the party in Gujarat, he is believed to be desperate for a national role.

Idol theft: Cong to take out rally

Feb 26, 2012,

PALANPUR: The failure of police to recover the 1,500-year-old marble idol of 'Chakreshwari' Mataji', stolen from Digambar Jain temple at Umta village in Visnagar taluka of Mehsana distinct on Sunday last by some miscreants, has assumed political overtones.

Congress has decided to take out a rally on Tuesday in Mehsana to demand the resignation of minister of state for home Praful Patel over the failure of police to recover the Rs one crore worth idol even after so many days.

Congress MP from Patan Jadish Thakore told TOI that though eight days have passed since the theft took place, but there has been no progress in the case.

He said it was regrettable more for the fact that the minister belonged to Umta village yet he has so far not visited the place once.

"Congress has the habit of adding fuel to fire. It was trying to make political capital out of the issue," Mehsana district Bharatiya Janata Party president, Rishikesh Patel, who is also an MLA from Visnagar, said.

Meanwhile, Moniji Nirbhay Sagar, who is on a fast unto death for the past eight day, said, "Chief minister Narendra Modi has assured me of early recovery of the stolen idol. Until the idol is recovered and restored to its place, I will not take food. I have given up milk and juice already. I will now stop taking water too." A large number of devotees are arriving from Kalol, Ahmedabad, Palanpur and other places to the village to express their solidarity with Moniji.

Notorious criminal Vishal Madam shifted to A'dabad hospital

Rajkot, Nov 5 (PTI) Notorious criminal and nephew of Jamnagar Congress MP, Vishal Madam, was shifted to a hospital in Ahmedabad after his health deteriorated last night, sources in Jamnagar jail said today. Madam, who was wanted in various offences like murder, extortion and land grabbing, was recently arrested in Ahmedabad by the crime branch. He was later handed over to Jamnagar police and kept in district jail here where he fell ill and admitted to Guru Govindsinhji hospital couple of days back for treatment of lung infection, sources said adding his health condition deteriorated further and was shifted to U S Mehta hospital in Ahmedabad last night. PTI VJA ABC