Once welcomed with fanfare, most Gujarat Congress turncoats now warm benches in BJP

As Gujarat prepares to vote in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 7, history almost seems to be repeating itself in the state as like in 2019, Congress turncoats gear up to contest the simultaneous Assembly bypolls as BJP candidates.

In 2019, the BJP had fielded three turncoat MLAs in the bypolls which were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls and “rewarded” them with ministerial berths in the Vijay Rupani Cabinet while a couple more were elevated days after exiting the Congress.

However, there is a difference between the situation of 2019 and now. In the run-up to the last Lok Sabha election, the Congress had a larger presence in the Assembly having won 77 of the 182 seats in the 2017 state elections. This time, the grand old party faces the parliamentary polls after having won only 17 seats, its lowest ever tally, in the 2022 Assembly elections and further being reduced to 13 following the exit of four legislators – Arjun Modhwadia (Porbandar), C J Chavda (Vijapur), Chirag Patel (Khambhat) and Arvind Ladani (Manavadar) – who will contest from their respective seats in the bypolls as BJP candidates.

A senior BJP leader claimed around 60,000 Congressmen, including 20 MLAs and 300 leaders, have crossed over in the past few years. “This comes to around 250-300 workers per Assembly seat. They were key functionaries in their respective areas. The BJP leadership wants to decimate the Congress across the country and hence important leaders, who are ready to jump ship, are being pursued relentlessly,” the source added.

However, only a few turncoats are in positions of power in the BJP while many others have been relegated to the sidelines.

In the upcoming Lok Sabha fray, the BJP has fielded two candidates with