Bharuch braces for a Vasava vs Vasava contest as first-time MLA is pitted against six-time MP

Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat sees a fierce battle between BJP and AAP candidates.

Among Gujarat’s 26 Lok Sabha seats, Bharuch is likely to witness one of the most absorbing contests this time. The South Gujarat constituency, unique in being represented by a tribal leader since 1989 despite the seat being a non-reserved one, will have the State’s most senior parliamentarian from the Vajpayee-Advani era crossing swords with a first-time MLA: sitting BJP MP Mansukhbhai D. Vasava and the Aam Aadmi Party’s Chaitar Vasava.

Once a pocket borough of the late Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who had won the seat thrice in a row from 1977 to 1984, the BJP has had a vice-like grip over Bharuch since it won for the first time in 1989, with Mr. Mansukh Vasava representing it since 1998.

As part of the alliance between Congress and AAP, two Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat – Bharuch and Bhavnagar – have been given to the latter while the principal Opposition party will contest on the remaining 24 seats. AAP picked Mr. Chaitar Vasava, its 37-year-old tribal face who enjoys strong popularity in the region after winning the Dediapada Assembly seat in December 2022, for Bharuch. His candidature was announced as early as January by Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal when the MLA was in jail in a case related to an alleged assault on a government employee.

The South Gujarat constituency has a large concentration of tribal and Muslim voters, with both communities making up around 7.5 lakh voters in this seat that houses some of the largest industrial estates such as Ankleshwar and Dahej, Gujarat’s lifeline Narmada dam, and tribal pockets such as Dediapada, Jhagadia and Nandod.

Mr. Chaitar Vasava, once a protege of another tribal veteran from the region, Chhotubhai Vasava, helped AAP gain a large chunk of tribal votes from the Congress in the 2022 Assembly polls as he went on to defeat Mahesh Vasava, his mentor’s son and then incumbent MLA from their own political outfit Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP). In fact, Congress was the first choice of Mr. Chaitar Vasava but comments by party leaders about an alliance with BTP prompted him to join AAP ahead of the Assembly poll.

AAP has stood firmly behind Mr. Chaitar Vasava since his induction into the party. After meeting him and his wife Shakuntala in jail, Mr. Kejriwal had told a gathering in Bharuch that “Chaitar Vasava and his wife have been arrested by the BJP government of Gujarat in a fake case”. The AAP national convener went on to laud his MLA for fighting for his people’s water, forests, land, schools, and hospitals. “There is anger against the BJP government in the entire tribal community regarding his arrest,” he had said.

By announcing him as the AAP candidate from Bharuch, Mr. Kejriwal had sought to strengthen his party’s grip over the tribal votes in this seat.