Gujarat elections: Jignesh Mewani to contest as independent from Vadgam

Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani said Monday that he would contest the upcoming Gujarat elections as an independent candidate from Banaskantha's Vadgamdistrict. He tweeted :‘Friends, I’m contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win.’

In a Facebook post, the 35-year-old requested the Congress and other opposition parties not to field a candidate from Vadgam, so that he can make it a direct contest with the ruling BJP.“We need to expose the 22-year-old misrule of the BJP and hence should be a directfight between me and the BJP,” he wrote.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

The Gujarat Congress has asked its sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela to not contest from Vadgam“as a part of an agreement” with Mevani. “The partyhas asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congress’ support. Thus, there won’t be any Congress candidate on this seat,” Vaghela told PTI.

The BJP on Friday had named Vijaybhai Chakravarti as its candidate from Vadgam.

Amongst his early supporters, Jignesh can count Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal whowas quick to wish him on Twitter.

Mewani made the announcement hours after the Congress party released its third list of 76 candidates.

Earlier this month, Jignesh Mevani had a meeting with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi during the latter’s visit to south Gujarat. After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 per cent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.

Jignesh Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una Dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

He said he would not join the party, but that all Dalit organisations and activists would work to defeat the BJP.