As the Rajya Sabha polls to three seats from Gujarat are set to be held on Tuesday, BJP president Amit Shah, who is also contesting and is all set to make his debut in Parliament, arrived in Ahmedabad late on Saturday.
Shah packed his Sunday with marathon meetings, which stretched late into the night, with senior party leaders, including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, reportedly chalking out the final winning strategy, not just for himself but also for the other two BJP candidates — Smriti Irani, who is seeking her second term, and Balwantsinh Rajput, who recently crossed over from the Congress.
Sources said Shah held back-to-back meetings with his party leaders at his residence in Thaltej, Ahmedabad. He wants to ensure that all three of them win and deal an embarrassing blow to Congress veteran Ahmed Patel, who is seeking his fifth term, the sources added.
Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani, party in-charge in Gujarat Bhupendra Yadav, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Pradipsinh Jadeja were among those who attended the meeting.
A senior BJP leader said, “The meetings purely focused on the Rajya Sabha polls. It is a prestige issue for him and the party. Our third candidate, Rajput, needs 14 more preferential votes, in addition to what he will get from BJP MLAs. So now, the party will try to ensure that Patel doesn’t get sufficient preferential votes, so that Rajput will have a safe passage to Rajya Sabha.”
“The contest looks close after Congress moved 44 of its MLAs, including some who are likely to cross-vote, to Bengaluru. Moreover, it cannot be predicted how four MLAs of other parties — two of NCP, one of GPP and one JD(U) — will vote. All these factors were discussed at the meeting,” said the leader on condition of anonymity.
