"Revenge Of The Prince": BJP As Congress Parts With Ahmed Patel's Legacy

Handing over Gujarat's Bharuch constituency - veteran Ahmed Patel's legacy and bastion - to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as part of a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Lok Sabha election is the revenge of the "Prince", BJP spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said. Mr Shergill jumped ship from Congress a little over a year ago.

Giving away Bharuch is Rahul Gandhi's attempt to erase Ahmed Patel's legacy and humiliate the family, BJP's Amit Malviya said in a strongly-worded criticism of the Congress and the Gandhi family, which he said: "... Believes in use and throw."

"In the Congress, one dynasty is more equal than the others. Everyone knows of the differences between the late Ahmed Patel and Rahul Gandhi. Giving away Bharuch to AAP is Rahul Gandhi's attempt to erase his legacy and humiliate the family. Gandhis believe in use and throw," he wrote, sharing Ahmed Patel's daughter's X post. In an emotional post addressed to the party cadre of Bharuch district, Mumtaz Patel apologised for not being able to hold on to the constituency from where her father began his political career in 1976 contesting the local body polls.

"Deeply apologize to Our district cadre for not being able to secure the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in alliance. I share your disappointment. Together, we will regroup to make Congress stronger. We won't let Ahmed Patel's 45 years of legacy go in vain," Ms Patel wrote with the hashtag "Bharuch ki beti (daughter of Bharuch)".

Considered the Congress's chief troubleshooter, Ahmed Patel represented the Gujarat constituency both in the state assembly and in Parliament. Quintessentially working in the backrooms, Mr Patel would be called in by the party in times of crisis until he died in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Seat-sharing has been a major headache for the Opposition bloc INDIA which has vowed to put up a strong resistance to the BJP in the upcoming general elections.

On Saturday, the Congress and the AAP agreed to a 4:3 seat-sharing formula for Delhi and reached a deal for Gujarat, Haryana, Goa, and Chandigarh to put up a joint fight.

In UP which sends the most number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, the Congress has already made a deal with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and will contest from 17 seats. 

However, deadlocks remain in Maharashtra and Bengal. In the western state, the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) are yet to decide on eight seats. In Bengal, the Trinamool Congress asserted they will contest all the 42 seats in the state. Sources said the TMC is not willing to part with any more than two seats and the Congress has been seeking at least five.

The INDIA bloc, set up last year to take on the BJP, lost two key members in the run-up to the polls. Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtra Lok Dal have both aligned with the BJP.