The BJP on Thursday announced the name of national party president Amit Anil Chandra Shah as the candidate from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat. The seat is currently represented by party veteran 91-year-old L.K. Advani. He has won from Gandhinagar six times. Shah is currently a Rajya Sabha MP. Shah's name figures second after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the list of candidates announced by the party.
In the meetings of party's state parliamentary board, no name was discussed in relation with the Gandhinagar seat. The move likely signals the end of Advani era.
The party will go all out to retain all 26 seats from Gujarat and repeat the 2014 performance, more so after its comparatively poor show in the 2017 assembly elections. Then the tally stood at 99 in 182-member assembly.
In 2014, when Narendra Modi was projected as the prime ministerial candidate, he had contested, won, and later vacated Vadodara seat. He had retained Varanasi.
Shah contesting from Gandhinagar is also seen as a move to kill two birds with one stone. Not only will Shah be able to monitor closely the other 25 seats, he will also be able to keep a close watch on the functioning of the Gujarat government.
No sooner was the name of Shah announced, celebrations broke out in different parts of the state, with party workers hitting the streets to burst crackers.
Party leaders feel that with Shah contesting from Gujarat, it is almost certain Modi will not contest for a second seat from the same state, and would instead prefer a state where the BJP needs a boost.
Shah is a heavyweight and has risen to the party president level after a long journey as a booth level worker, MLA, minister and the party in-charge for Uttar Pradesh.
Even as his stature continued to grow within the BJP, he remained a controversial figure with his alleged involvement in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jehan encounters. He also spent time behind bars. The court, however, gave him a clean chit. He was also allegedly involved in a snooping case in Gujarat.
In the recent past, there was controversy surrounding his only son, Jay. It was alleged that the wealth of the company that Jay owned had increased manifold after the NDA came to power. Jay had denied the allegations and filed a defamation case against the media organisation.
The Congress candidate for Gandhinagar is yet to be announced.
BJP youth leader Rutvij Patel exuded confidence that Shah will win convincingly even if he did not campaign for a single day. Patel said that they would win with the highest margin ever.
