BJP, Cong face diamond woes in East

In the electioneering prelude to the D-Day that is barely two weeks away, both the BJP and the Congress are raking up the issues of development and diamond workers to garner votes in Ahmedabad East. In this Lok Sabha constituency, development done in the eastern part of the city and the woes of jobless diamond workers are the two main issues for both the parties.

The Lok Sabha constituency consists of five newly created assembly seats and one each from old Ahmedabad and Kapadvanj Lok Sabha constituencies. The five new seats are: Bapunagar, Vatva, Nikol, Thakkarbapanagar and Gandhinagar South. While Naroda from Ahmedabad has been retained, Dehgam from Kapadvanj has been made a part of it.

The BJP has fielded Harin Pathak, six-time party MP from Ahmedabad. Taking him on is Deepak Babariya of the Congress. Babariya is a secretary in the state unit of the party. Apart from these two candidates, there are 16 other candidates are in the fray.
On his part, Pathak is a seasoned politician who was also minister of state for defence in the NDA government. On the other hand, Babariya is fighting Lok Sabha elections for the first time. He is, however, known for taking up the cause of closed mill workers and diamond workers, supporting agitation of autorickshaw drivers, and spearheading a campaign for overcoming shortage of LPG cylinders during winter.

On behalf of the two candidates, their party workers are trying to take credit for whatever development has been done in areas like Nikol, Naroda and hakkarbapanagar over the last few years after they were brought under AMC jurisdiction. The change in the eastern part has come in the form of new town planning schemes, schools, colleges, gardens, multiplexes and malls as found in the western part of the city. While the BJP says the development is due to the state government, the Congress says it is due to the UPA government at the Centre.

Besides, the woes of diamond workers, who are largely concentrated in Bapunagar, Nikol and Thakkarbapanagar, are a major poll issue for both the parties. The Congress has already held public gatherings and agitations to support their cause.

"Nearly two lakh diamond workers are unemployed. The BJP has not done anything for them. Modi has been giving lip-service about supporting them, but no action has been taken. He has not even visited them since the crisis struck," says Jaysukh Vekariya, president of diamond workers' cell of the Congress.

However, the BJP feels otherwise. "The crisis in the diamond industry is due to global recession. And it is the UPA government that has failed to address their problems though it earned huge revenue from the diamond industry," says Vallabh Kakdiya, BJP MLA from Rakhial, blaming the Congress for the poor condition of diamond workers. Many parts of old Rakhial assembly seat are parts of Bapunagar segment now.

At the same time, he says the issue will not affect the poll prospects of the party.  "The diamond workers are traditionally committed to the BJP and they will vote for us this time as well," he asserts.

Though the battlelines are drawn over these two issues, the BJP seems to have an upper hand in the constituency. "Most of the AMC wards in the five newly created assembly segments are with the BJP. We have also effectively implemented the 'one booth, ten youth' scheme and our workers are running a door-to-door campaign,'' says Jagdish Patel, city BJP president, who is also the election in-charge for Ahmedabad East.