BJP to field 100 new faces in next Assembly polls in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: The BJP will field at least hundred new faces in the next Assembly elections in Gujarat, state president CR Paatil said on Tuesday in a party cadre meeting in Himmatnagar. The state polls are slated by the end of the next year. Addressing the Page President (Panna Pramukh) Card distribution event, the state BJP chief said, "There will be hundred new faces which will be replacing the old ones in the upcoming state assembly elections in 2022. The sitting MLAs present here need not take this message personally." "I also say that nobody should approach me for tickets, as this decision has been taken from the higher ups and if someone is dissatisfied, he should go to Delhi," Paatil added.

He said, "The workers hold a very important position in the scheme of things in the saffron party and nobody should underestimate this. If we receive any complaints from the workers, that will be considered seriously. It should be ensured that workers' demands and proposals must be met."

Recently the party High Command changed the entire Cabinet in the Gujarat government, replacing every minister including Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani with Bhupendra Patel and deputy chief minister Nitin Patel. The major change in party's stance towards the upcoming elections might be attributed to the government's poor handling of the second wave of the pandemic as well as the strong outreach of the Aam Aadmi Party in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Gujarat State assembly consists of 182 constituencies, of which the saffron party holds 112 seats, the opposition Congress 65 seats, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) 2 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one seat. The lone independent legislator was Jignesh Mewani, who will be contesting the next elections from the Congress ticket, while one seat is vacant.