GPP makes a disastrous debut 84-year-old Keshubhai Patel floated a party to bring in a parivartan, but could win only two of the 175 seats the party contested

GPP makes a disastrous debut

84-year-old Keshubhai Patel floated a party to bring in a parivartan, but could win only two of the 175 seats the party contested

In 2007, Leuva Patels were up in arms under Utkarash Samiti, while in 2012, they had Naresh Patel-led Khodaldham Trust and Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) to lead them. They failed then, and they failed now. The community’s political outfit managed to win a couple of seats but stopped the Congress from winning six more. At 84 years, Keshubhai Patel (Bapa) turned rebel against the party and the organisation that he founded. He raised valid issues, attracted crowds, but could not convert them into seats. In the absence of star campaigners, and with little influence in other parts of the state, the GPP could not bring parivartan (change) that it wished in Gujarat. As a leader, Bapa won his own constituency Visavadar, but could not lead others to win. His commander-in-chief and party general secretary Gordhan Zadaphia lost from Gondal, a constituency with dominant Leuva Patel votes. It sums up the picture. The strategy to win Leuva Patel votes with the support of Khodaldham Trust has clearly not worked in favour of GPP, a party that was formed in August. In just three months, it tried hard but could not achieve success. The party managed a 6.04% share of votes in the Saurashtra region. Out of 13 Leuva Patel dominated seats in Saurashtra, GPP could win only two. The GPP could not win any seat in Leuva Patel dominated areas of South Gujarat region. It clearly shows that the party’s strategy to concentrate only on Patel vote-bank ended in a disaster. Of the 26 Leuva Patel dominated constituencies in Gujarat, the BJP won the maximum seats (16) while Congress secured eight. This, too, proves that the strategy of banking on Patel votes did not click. Around 150 candidates of the party are likely to lose their deposit, as they could not secure more than 10% of the votes cast. Even before the names of the candidates were announced, there was sense of ire in some sections of the GPP. Senior leader and face of the Dalits in Saurashtra, Siddharth Patel, had claimed that the GPP could be termed as ‘Gujarat Patel Party’. “Everyone in the party is eyeing some post in the government on the back of Patel vote-bank. I do not see any future of the party. I think all efforts are going in vain. We will lose badly,” he had told DNA. His words at that time were ignored. Keshubhai is behaving as ‘Dhritrashtra’, he remarked. GPP contested in 175 constituencies but fielded only those persons who were either taluka-level leader of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh or had some background of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. None of them has mass appeal. During the campaign, Bapa managed to draw some crowds, Zadaphia got some claps, but none of them converted into votes. Bapa predicted at least 13 seats for the GPP and a fractured mandate in the 2012 elections. None of his wishes came true.

Published Date:  Dec 21, 2012

GPP makes a disastrous debut

84-year-old Keshubhai Patel floated a party to bring in a parivartan, but could win only two of the 175 seats the party contested

Bhavesh Shah l Ahmedabad

In 2007, Leuva Patels were up in arms under Utkarash Samiti, while in 2012, they had Naresh Patel-led Khodaldham Trust and Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) to lead them. They failed then, and they failed now. The community’s political outfit managed to win a couple of seats but stopped the Congress from winning six more. At 84 years, Keshubhai Patel (Bapa) turned rebel against the party and the organisation that he founded. He raised valid issues, attracted crowds, but could not convert them into seats. In the absence of star campaigners, and with little influence in other parts of the state, the GPP could not bring parivartan (change) that it wished in Gujarat. As a leader, Bapa won his own constituency Visavadar, but could not lead others to win. His commander-in-chief and party general secretary Gordhan Zadaphia lost from Gondal, a constituency with dominant Leuva Patel votes. It sums up the picture. The strategy to win Leuva Patel votes with the support of Khodaldham Trust has clearly not worked in favour of GPP, a party that was formed in August. In just three months, it tried hard but could not achieve success. The party managed a 6.04% share of votes in the Saurashtra region. Out of 13 Leuva Patel dominated seats in Saurashtra, GPP could win only two. The GPP could not win any seat in Leuva Patel dominated areas of South Gujarat region. It clearly shows that the party’s strategy to concentrate only on Patel vote-bank ended in a disaster. Of the 26 Leuva Patel dominated constituencies in Gujarat, the BJP won the maximum seats (16) while Congress secured eight. This, too, proves that the strategy of banking on Patel votes did not click. Around 150 candidates of the party are likely to lose their deposit, as they could not secure more than 10% of the votes cast. Even before the names of the candidates were announced, there was sense of ire in some sections of the GPP. Senior leader and face of the Dalits in Saurashtra, Siddharth Patel, had claimed that the GPP could be termed as ‘Gujarat Patel Party’. “Everyone in the party is eyeing some post in the government on the back of Patel vote-bank. I do not see any future of the party. I think all efforts are going in vain. We will lose badly,” he had told DNA. His words at that time were ignored. Keshubhai is behaving as ‘Dhritrashtra’, he remarked. GPP contested in 175 constituencies but fielded only those persons who were either taluka-level leader of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh or had some background of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. None of them has mass appeal. During the campaign, Bapa managed to draw some crowds, Zadaphia got some claps, but none of them converted into votes. Bapa predicted at least 13 seats for the GPP and a fractured mandate in the 2012 elections. None of his wishes came true.