The Aryavarth Express
Agency (Gujarat): In a strategic move to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stronghold in Gujarat, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have joined forces for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. This alliance is set on challenging the electoral dominance of the BJP, which has historically performed exceptionally well in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
During the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP swept all 26 parliamentary seats in Gujarat, securing over 60 percent of the vote share in both instances. However, the separate contestation by Congress and AAP in the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections resulted in a divided opposition vote, enabling the BJP to achieve a landslide victory with 156 out of 182 seats. The BJP garnered approximately 51 percent of the votes, while Congress received 27.5 percent and AAP 13 percent, highlighting the detrimental impact of vote division among opposition parties.
Acknowledging the past repercussions of vote division, a senior Congress leader in Gujarat conceded that the party faced defeats in over 40 assembly constituencies due to the fragmented opposition vote. This realization has led to a concerted effort by both Congress and AAP to present a united front against the BJP in the upcoming polls, with Congress contesting 24 seats and AAP two seats under a seat-sharing arrangement.
AAP’s state leader, Manoj Sorathiya, expressed optimism about the alliance’s prospects, citing public disillusionment with a decade of BJP governance in Gujarat. Similarly, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi emphasized the strategic significance of the alliance in consolidating anti-BJP votes, potentially reversing the fortunes of the opposition in the state.
Despite the formation of this alliance, the BJP remains unfazed, with Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil asserting that the partnership will not impede the party’s electoral prospects, given its consistent performance above the 50 percent vote share in recent elections.
Political analysts are somewhat skeptical of the alliance’s capacity to significantly challenge the BJP’s dominance in Gujarat, attributing the party’s strong performance to the “Modi factor” and its deep-rooted presence in the state. While the Congress-AAP coalition may unify the opposition vote, overcoming the BJP’s established electoral supremacy in the Prime Minister’s home state remains a formidable challenge.
As Gujarat prepares for the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled in a single phase on May 7 with votes counted on June 4, the effectiveness of the Congress-AAP alliance in altering the state’s political landscape remains a closely watched development, potentially setting the tone for opposition strategies in other BJP-dominated regions.