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Kalol (Gujarat), Apr 27 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani criticised the Congress Government here today and said people are discontented with the present administrative set up at the Centre./pp
They are discontented with present set up. They were not discontented during six years when Vajpayee’s NDA Government was in office. Therefore, it is more related to the present establishment. I would think in India, a general discontentment about the political system is not correct. Nor democracy in any developing country has flourished and succeeded in the manner as India, said Advani at a road show here. /pp
BJP is trying hard to increase its party’s support base in the delimited Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Constituency. /pp
Two new assembly segments – Sanad and Kalol were included in the geographical area of the seat after delimitation./pp
On the recent delimitation process, Advani said, some areas were added and some were separated. There is also change in the voters count. Earlier, they were around 19 lakh and now they are around 15 lakh . /pp
Advani’s constituency Gandhinagar will go to polls on April 30. (ANI)/p
Advani criticises Congress for discontenting people with present administrative set up
Congress picks Suresh Patel to take on Advani
GANDHINAGAR: With the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani in the fray, the Congress thought long about who to
field from the Gujarat constituency. And after a fortnight of deliberations fixed on legislator Suresh Patel, said a party leader.
With Advani, who is seeking re-election for the fifth time, having bested candidates such as former chief election commissioner T.N. Seshan and former Gujarat police chief P.K. Dutta, it was not an easy decision.
“It took the party some time to decide on the candidate for the Gandhinagar seat. We now have found the right candidate in Suresh Patel who is well known in the Kalol and Gandhinagar belt,” leader of opposition in the Gujarat assembly and Congress leader Shatisinh Gohil said.
It took the Congress poll think tank in New Delhi two weeks of discussions before deciding on the Kalol legislator.
According to a senior leader, Patel had been in contact with voters in the Kalol and Gandhinagar belt for five years. He had first won as legislator from the Kalol seat in 1998 but lost it in the 2002 assembly poll. In 2007, Patel won back the Kalol seat after a gap of five years during which he had kept his public contact programmes going.
Congress leaders also point out that 35 percent of the overall voting strength in the Gandhinagar constituency comprises the influential Patel community, mostly involved in farming and land dealing businesses.
They are hoping that Advani’s long absences from the constituency during the last five years would work in the Congress’ favour.
Noted dancer Mallika Sarabhai is also contesting the Gandhinagar seat as an independent.
Congress to field Suresh Patel against Advani
New Delhi, Mar 31 (ANI): The Congress has decided to field Suresh Patel from Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani for upcoming general elections.
Patel is a two-term MLA from Kalol Assembly seat, which falls under the Gandhinagar constituency.
Suresh Patel (58), considered a person with a “clean image”, became an MLA from Kalol in 1998.
He had lost the seat in 2002 but wrested it back from the BJP in the 2007 assembly polls.
Advani has been representing the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat since 1991 but did not contest in 1996 after his name cropped up in the Hawala scam case in which he had got clean chit later on.
In 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had fielded Gambhaji Thakur against Advani. (ANI)