Father vs. Son, Brother vs. Brother - Gujarat Assembly Elections Will Be An Interesting Battle

The upcoming Gujarat assembly elections, which are planned for next month, are shaping up to be an intriguing struggle between members of the same close family.

Father Vs Son

Gujarat's Assembly elections are coming up, and a son and his father are competing against one another.
After Chhotu Vasava, the founder of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), declared himself an independent candidate for the Bharuch district's Jhagadia Assembly seat, this humorous circumstance transpired. His son Mahesh, the president of the Bharatiya Tribal Party, is also running for the same assembly seat. Chhotu Vasava has served seven consecutive terms in the Assembly's reserved seat for Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The senior Vasava stated in his claim following the submission of the nomination that he is confident in his ability to win the election on December 1. He said to PTI that no one else could take on the dominant BJP and that he was forced to enter the conflict.

When the first list of BTP candidates was made public and Mahesh Vasava was given the go-ahead to run from the Jhagadia assembly seat—which his father had previously represented for seven terms—the schism between the two came to light.

Mahesh Vasava, the president of the BTP, has declared that he will be running from Jhagadia. He won the Dediapada constituency in the Narmada district in the 2017 elections. The sole winners from the party in 2017 were the father and the son. Mahesh responded that everyone has the right to submit nomination forms when questioned about the conflict with his father.

Brother Vs Brother

The BJP has put up Ishwarsinh Thakorbhai Patel, 58, a four-term MLA from Ankleshwar-Hansot and the former minister of state for cooperation and sports, against his 61-year-old elder brother Vijaysinh alias Vallabhbhai Patel of the Congress. The Koli Patel clan in Ankleshwar and Hansot is familiar with Vallabh Patel, who just joined the Congress party to pursue his political ambition of becoming an MLA from Ankleshwar-Hansot after his elder brother refused to cede the seat to the BJP.

The Patel brothers come from the Hansot Taluka of the Kudara hamlet in the Bharuch district. Their father Thakorsinh Patel represented Ankleshwar as a BJP MLA in 1990. In the Gujarat governments presided over by chief ministers Vijay Rupani and Anandiben Patel, Ishwarsinh Patel won the 2002 assembly election over Congress candidate Balubhai Patel. He continued his winning streak in 2017 by being elected minister of state cooperation, youth and cultural activities, and transportation.

Uncle Vs Nephew

In Morbi, the Aam Aadmi Party has nominated Pankaj Ransariya, who will run against his uncle and former five-term MLA Kantibhai Amrutiya of the BJP. Brijesh Merja, a BJP MLA now in office who ran against Amrutiya on a Congress platform in 2017, is replaced by Amrutiya.