Will Congress be able to regain Saurashtra in upcoming Gujarat elections?

Once a Congress stronghold, the Saurashtra region has slowly slipped away from the grand old party, which is now fighting hard to regain it.

The Congress is focussing more on Gujarat's Saurashtra belt, which once was said to be the stronghold of the party. Currently, the Congress is losing ground in the area. From Padyatra to a dedicated media cell, the grand old party is trying hard to regain Saurashtra.

Let's understand why Saurashtra is important and what the factors are here.

Saurashtra and Kutch have 54 seats - the highest in any region of the state. During the last assembly elections of 2017, the Congress had won 29 seats while the BJP won 24 seats. One seat went to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Saurashtra has a majority of Patidars, Koli, Ahir and Kshatriyas, who heavily influence the election results. Initially, the BJP was quite influential in the Saurashtra region, but the Patidar agitation changed the equation completely. However, recently, the BJP managed to get a hold of Saurashtra.

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After the patidar agitation, the BJP suffered heavy losses in the area. However, in the last five years, things have changed drastically. Nine MLAs of the Congress have switched over to the BJP. Top leaders from the Patidar, Koli and Ahir castes left the Congress for the BJP. Some of the top leaders include Kunwarji Bavaliya, Brijesh Merja, Jawahar Chavda and many others. The Congress faced massive losses as top leaders abandoned the party.

Another major loss for the Congress was when the party failed to induct top Patidar leader Naresh Patel. Patel has an influence on all the Patidar-dominated seats. Several attempts were made by Congress to rope him in, but in the end, all was futile.