Ahmed Patel likely to contest from Bharuch

There is a strong buzz that veteran Congressman and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel may contest the

Lok Sabha election

from Bharuch seat, his home town. Patel had last contested from the seat for Lok Sabha 30 years ago. Patel, fondly called Babubhai, is a native of Piraman village adjoining Bharuch.

Gujarat

Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Amit Chavda confirmed the possibility of Patel contesting the 2019 general election. "Party workers from Bharuch met All India Congress Committee (AICC) Gujarat in-charge Rajeev Satav and demanded the Bharuch ticket for Ahmed Patel. Satav has spoken about this with party president Rahul Gandhi. The high command and Ahmedbhai will take the final call."

Despite several attempts, Ahmed Patel could not be reached for his comments. In the past, BJP has often used Ahmed Patel’s name to polarize voters in this constituency where minority community voters for a sizeable portion of the electorate.

Talking to TOI, Satav said, "People want Patel to contest from Bharuch and his candidature will have a positive effect on other seats of Gujarat as well. It will be clear in the next two or three days whether he (Ahmed Patel) will contest from Bharuch or not."

Patel, 70, has won Bharuch Lok Sabha seat thrice in 1977, 1984 and 1989. However, he lost to BJP’s Chandubhai Deshmukh in the 1991 election that was held in the backdrop of the Ram Jamnabhoomi movement.

He has not contested any Lok Sabha election since then. He has worked closely with the Nehru-Gandhi family over the past several years and has been a close associate of Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi.

Ahmed Patel won the Bharuch seat thrice in 1977, 1980 and 1984, but lost to BJP’s Chandubhai Deshmukh in 1991. In fact, this was his second loss to Deshmukh who also trounced him in the 1989 parliamentary election.

Patel did not contest Lok Sabha elections after the loss and Bharuch has remained a BJP fort since then.