The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has significantly changed the electoral dynamics of Gujarat by deciding to field its national president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar.The state party leadership, which had earlier met for three days to finalise candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat, had left it to the party high command to decide on the candidate for the high-profile seat amid clamour from workers for fielding Shah.Shah replaces nonagenarian veteran LK Advani, who has been a member of Parliament from Gandhinagar since 1991, barring for a couple of years between 1996 and 1998. It recorded its worstever electoral performance in two decades in the 2017 Gujarat elections in the wake of the Patidar movement for reservation. It recently held its all-important Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Adalaj near Gandhinagar. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had started his electioneering from Dharampur in south Gujarat. For the record, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, made her debut public speech after formally joining the party at a rally in Adalaj after the CWC meeting.

Source: Economic Times March 21, 2019 18:11 UTC