Gujarat normally sees two parties dominate electoral politics, with smaller parties standing little chance. So the entry of Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is being keenly watched. The AIMIM has joined hands with Chhotu Vasava’s Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) for the civic polls. And, the response to Owaisi’s rallies in Bharuch and Ahmedabad was good, considering that these were one of the first rallies post the Covid-19 peak in Gujarat.
The pandemic delayed the polls from December. Elections to the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar—all controlled by the BJP—will be held on February 21. And, 31 district panchayats, 231 taluka panchayats and 81 municipalities will go to the polls on February 28. The results of the civic corporation polls were to be announced on February 23, but the Congress moved the High Court requesting that they be declared only after February 28.
The Congress, which put up a good show against the BJP in the civic polls five years ago and the subsequent assembly elections, fears that the results of the corporation polls would affect the outcome of other elections. Rightly so, as the AIMIM-BTP alliance can dent its core vote bank—tribals (15 per cent of the state’s population) and Muslims (9 per cent). The alliance reminds one of how Congress stalwart Madhavsinh Solanki won 149 of 182 assembly seats in 1985 by wooing kshatriyas, dalits, adivasis and Muslims. No one, including Narendra Modi, has been able to beat that record.
The Aam Aadmi Party, too, is in the fray. So is the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which has fielded candidates in nine seats in Ahmedabad. The Congress has much to lose—it controls 19 of the 31 district panchayats and more than 135 taluka panchayats.
Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel called the AIMIM-BTP alliance the BJP’s “B-team”. He admitted that even a loss of 1,000 votes can damage the Congress, but he said that it would create awareness among the masses. “Tribals are not fools,”he said. The Congress, which has lost several MLAs to the BJP since the 2017 assembly elections, has come out with a declaration form for poll aspirants, which states that they will not leave the party after getting a ticket.
The AIMIM, meanwhile, has appointed former Congress MLA Sabir Kabliwala as its state president. Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel, who is in charge of the civic polls, told THE WEEK that until now the AIMIM was considered an untouchable, but was now being wooed by smaller parties. The offer for the alliance in Gujarat came from the BTP, he said.
State Congress president Amit Chavda, however, said that the presence of these parties, which have no cadre, would not make much difference. Agreed BJP’s former spokesperson Bharat Pandya. Nonetheless, BJP’s state leaders are camping at the district headquarters and meeting party workers and people.
Political observer Vidyut Joshi said that the AAP, and not the AIMIM-BTP alliance, was likely to do more damage to the Congress, thanks to its initiatives like mohalla clinics. AAP’s state media convener Tuli Banerjee said they would focus on the lack of education, high electricity bills and the condition of hospitals.
Meanwhile, Ikram Khan of SDPI said that contesting civic polls would make the cadres confident. “We will be then in a [better] position to contest the [assembly] elections,”he said.
No doubt, in the absence of a strong opposition, every party wants to try its luck.