Cong, AAP eye tribal LS seats in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: The Congress and AAP have tied up in their bid to breach Gujarat, a BJP fortress, through the state’s tribal-dominated seats in the Lok Sabha polls, but the saffron party’s grip over these constituencies is too strong, say political analysts.

Of the state’s 26 seats that will go to polls on May 7, Dahod, Chhota Udaipur, Bardoli and Valsad are reserved for ST (Scheduled Tribes) candidates, while Bharuch has a sizable population of tribals though it is a general seat.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made some inroads into the tribal belt, reflected by its victory from Dediapada (ST) assembly segment under the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in the 2022 state polls.

The Congress, once a powerhouse in Gujarat’s tribal landscape, has renewed its focus on the tribal belt.

Last month, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra traversed through areas under these Lok Sabha seats.

Taking a cue from their crushing defeats in the last assembly polls when anti-BJP votes in the tribal belt got split among AAP, Congress and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit and the grand old party have forged a partnership as part of the opposition INDIA bloc for the Lok Sabha polls.

As per their seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress has given Bharuch and Bhavnagar seats to AAP.

Despite Bharuch being a non-reserved seat, BJP as well as the INDIA bloc have nominated tribals as their candidates.

Here BJP’s sitting MP Mansukh Vasava will take on AAP’s Dediapada (ST) MLA Chaitar Vasava.

While the opposition bloc is confident of opening its account in the tribal belt, senior political analyst Amit Dholakia believes it won’t be that easy.

“I don’t see any pattern indicative of a shift of tribal voters from BJP to Congress or AAP in this election. Though it seems that Chaitar Vasava would give a tough fight to BJP in Bharuch, chances of his victory are remote because he won from one assembly seat and a Lok Sabha seat comprises several assembly segments,” said Dholakia Dholakia, a professor of political science at Vadodara-based MS University, said central and state schemes like ‘Nal Se Jal’ and housing programmes in rural areas, and work by RSS and its sister outfits in tribal areas have created a pro-BJP atmosphere in this belt.