Ahmedabad: The Congress will not contest three Gujarat Assembly seats – Umreth, Devgadh Baria, and Naroda, from where the Nationalist Congress Party will field its candidates, but there is no understanding so far for two other seats – Kutiyana and Gondal.
In Kutiyana, the sitting NCP MLA is Kandhal Jadeja, who has a long criminal record and was recently acquitted in murder cases, and is the son of ‘Godmother’ Santokben Jadeja. In the 2012 and 2017 Assembly elections, Congress had not fielded its candidates against Kandhal.
But, in the last few years, Kandhal has betrayed the alliance and always voted for BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections. That seems to be the reason for no understanding of this seat.
PAAS and NCP candidate Reshma Patel (Sojitra) had filed her candidature from Gondal seat, and Jadeja is going to contest from Kutiyana seat. Both claims to have clearance from senior NCP leader Praful Patel.
Porbandar District Congress Committee President Rambha Odedara told IANS, till this moment, there is no instructions from the party high command of any alliance for the Kutiyana seat, and party candidate Nathabhai Odedara will continue campaigning. If the party high command asks, the candidate will withdraw from the election and not challenge the NCP candidate, he added.
–IANS