Maha-Gujarat Janta party president Gordhan Zadafia on Wednesday announced merger of his outfit with Keshubhai Patel's newly-formed Gujarat Parivartan Party in Ahmedabad.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat was unable to end its 18-year jinx in Visavadar as it lost the bypolls to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party despite a strong campaign.
Of cricket bats and kabbadi ads in the Gujarat poll
According to a survey carried out across Gujarat, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, will win the forthcoming state assembly elections comfortably. The survey, jointly conducted by a news channel and a weekly magazine, predicts that the BJP will get 50 per cent of the total votes.
The Gujarat elections 2012 are not a contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress and the Gujarat Parivartan Party. It is not between Narendrabhai and Keshubhai. Nor is it between Modi and Rahul or Sonia Gandhi. It is a contest between Modi that is seen as a symbol of Vibrant Gujarat, and a Modi that is deeply resented Parakala Prabhakar.
The wife of slain former Bharatiya Janata Party minister Haren Pandya, Jagruti, on Thursday announced that she will contest polls from Ellisbridge constituency of the city on Gujarat Parivartan Party ticket to get "justice for her husband from people's court."
Taking umbrage at Navjot Singh Sidhu's remark in which he termed him as an "anti-national leader", Gujarat Parivartan Party president Keshubhai Patel on Saturday appealed to the Election Commission to take suo motu action against the Bharatiya Janata Party MP and his party.
Announcing the launch of the party, Keshubhai said that the GPP would contest all the 182 seats in the state assembly election slated to be held by the end of this year.
Veteran politician Keshubhai Patel, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier this year to take on Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the coming Gujarat assembly elections, on Saturday said the people of the state desired a change of government. "After my parivartan yatra through the state, I felt that the undercurrent seeking to change this non-performing government is strong, especially amongst the poor and jobless youth," said Patel.
Though Narendra Modi's development has bypassed this district, first time voter's are rooting for the chief minister, says Shandilya Trivedi
Congress candidate from Maninagar, Shweta Bhatt, on Sunday appealed Keshubhai Patel-led Gujarat Parivartan Party to withdraw its candidate from the fray.
Gujarat assembly poll results have shown that former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who formed his own party just before the elections with the aim of dislodging his bete noire Narendra Modi, has failed to inspire voters in his own Saurashtra region, which more or less tilted towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Modi drove to the residence of Patel, who fell out with the BJP stalwart and floated his own party ahead of the election, in Gandhinagar to meet him. "Modiji had come to seek blessings after his win in the elections. I congratulated him for the win," Patel said after Modi's visit.
The Gujarat Parivartan Party on Monday withdrew its candidate from Maninagar constituency, paving the way for a direct contest between Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress candidate Shweta Bhatt, wife of suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt.
Describing Narendra Modi as 'propaganda-hungry', Gujarat Parivartan Party President Keshubhai Patel on Monday alleged that the chief minister observed 'Sadabhavna' fasts across the state and also wooed the Tatas to set up Nano project in Gujarat only to boost his image.
Gujarat Parivartan Party President Keshubhai Patel on Wednesday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra should first make his expenses on foreign trips public before raising questions over expenditure incurred on Sonia Gandhi's foreign tours.
Rediff editors on the field speak with experts, common people, media personalities and others to project how the election will go in Saurashtra which voted on Thursday.
Instead of a steamrolling 150 seats tally, terrifying the Bharatiya Janata Party high command into an abject surrender and hailing him as a prime minister-in-waiting, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra got 115 seats, 2 short of his 2007 score(117), enabling his party rivals to deny him what he covets the most, says Arvind J Bosmia
Gujarat Parivartan Party supremo Keshubhai Patel on Thursday said the people would vote for a change in the state, and added that Chief Minister Narendra Modi would be thrown out of power after the assembly polls.
The Gujarat Parivartan Party, led by Bharatiya Janata Party rebel and former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, will contest the forthcoming assembly elections on the symbol of a cricket bat. In a major relief to the new entrant in the election fray, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday rejected BJP's complaint for disallowing GPP from using this symbol.
The Congress also claimed that the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP was the "B-team" of the BJP in Gujarat.
Former Union Minister and dissident BJP leader Kashiram Rana, who recently joined Keshubhai Patel's Gujarat Parivartan Party, passed away early Friday morning, party sources said. He was 76.
Election Commission on Thursday slapped a notice on former Chief Minister and Gujarat Parivartan Party president Keshubhai Patel for violating election code of conduct while going to a polling booth with a pilot car.
Former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel died in Ahmedabad on Thursday after prolonged illness, family sources said. Patel (92) had recovered from Covid-19 recently and was rushed to a hospital in Ahmedabad on Thursday morning following health complications, the sources said.
The Election Commission of India has announced that the Delhi Assembly elections will be held on February 5, 2023, with the counting of votes scheduled for February 8. The last date to file nominations is January 17, and the scrutiny of nominations will be done by January 18. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until January 20.
The AAP's mandate in Gujarat is similar to the one in Delhi -- address issues related to corruption and other grievances of the common man, says Vinay Umarji and Premal Balan
'If he loses Gujarat, then he has a major, major, problem coming up in 2024.'
Addressing the 'parivartan sankalp rally' in Ahmedabad, Gandhi made a host of promises to people of Gujarat, where the assembly polls are due later this year, including creation of 10 lakh new jobs, building 3,000 English medium schools and free education to girls.
The elections to the Upper House from the state, where assembly polls are due later this year, have received greater attention with BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani entering the fray and the Congress putting up its heavyweight Ahmed Patel.
'Has any prime minister spent so much time in one state holding election rally after rally?'
In a major blow to the recently formed Gujarat Parivartan Party floated by former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel, his son Bharat on Monday rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Ahmedabad.
In earlier elections, the Congress was considered the only major contender for Muslim votes in Gujarat, but this time the main opposition party is facing stiff competition from smaller outfits to get minority electors on its side.
Veteran leader Keshubhai Patel on Wednesday announced that he would quit active politics and wished that the Gujarat Parivartan Party floated by him against Narendra Modi should merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A total of 89 seats -- out of 182 -- spanning the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions, are up for grabs in the first phase with 977 candidates in the fray, including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
The priority in ticket distribution will be given to youth, women, and those with a clean image, he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the upcoming general elections will be a "magnificent event" that would not be fought on the basis of number of seats alone but the connect between party leaders and the electorate.
In the continuing tug of war between Narendra Modi government and the governor, the state assembly on Tuesday passed the Gujarat Lokayukta Ayog Bill 2013 for a second time without incorporating any major changes sought by Raj Bhavan, setting the stage for a fresh confrontation.
In its second list of 46 candidates, the grand old party has also named four Muslim candidates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Congress of seeking to divide women in the name of caste and by spreading lies, as he launched a fierce counter-attack on the party over its demand of OBC sub-quota in women's reservation in legislatures.
NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja said his party has decided to support BJP candidate.