RS Bypolls: Chhotu Vasava & Son Vote Jaishankar in Blow to Cong

JD(U) MLA Chhotubhai Vasava (centre). 

(Photo Courtesy: Chhotubhai Vasava / Facebook)

The Gujarat Rajya Sabha bypolls produced a predictable result, as External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and another BJP candidate, Jugal Thakor, won comfortably.

Two Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat had fallen vacant after Union ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani were elected to the Lok Sabha from Gandhinagar and Amethi, respectively.

Jaishankar secured 104 votes and Thakor 105, while Congress candidates Chandrika Chudasama and Gaurav Pandya managed to get 70 votes each.

Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zhala voted for the BJP candidates and resigned from the Congress party. Apart from that, NCP MLA, Kandhlal Jadeja also voted for the BJP candidates.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, Chhotu Vasava from the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and his son Mahesh Vasava voted for the BJP candidates too. Chhotu Vasava, who was a member of the Janata Dal (United) till 2017, formed BTP and quit JDU after the latter formed an alliance with the BJP.

In fact, BTP and the Congress had formed an alliance during the 2017 Gujarat Assembly Polls and won two seats. The BTP’s cross-voting will certainly hurt the Congress’ prospects in the Assembly in days to come.

Vasava Voted for Ahmed Patel in 2017

Chhotu Vasava had voted in favour of Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel during his closely-fought contest to the Rajya Sabha in 2017, ensuring his win.

In return, he had hoped that the Congress would support his candidature from the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat on a BTP ticket. However, the Congress picked Sherkhan Abdulsakur Pathan, and Chhotu Vasava filed his nomination on the BTP ticket. Eventually, the seat was won by BJP candidate Mansukh Vasava.

The decision to not support Chhotu Vasava during the Lok Sabha elections has now backfired on the Congress, especially after two of its MLAs – Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zhala – cross-voted and quit the party, further reducing the Congress’ numbers in the Gujarat Assembly.

Meanwhile, Jaishankar thanked the BJP's central and state leadership for his win.

“The External Affairs Ministry has deep relations with the people of Gujarat, as people from this state have settled abroad in large numbers. Now I hope to engage more with the people of the state as a representative from Gujarat.”

S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister

A jubilant Vijay Rupani, Gujarat CM, said, "Both of our candidates have won the election with a thumping majority. The Congress tried to create hurdles in the elections and went up to the Supreme Court, but it failed," Rupani told reporters.

Jaishankar, a former foreign secretary, needed to get elected to Parliament after he was inducted into the Narendra Modi cabinet.