BJP feels Cong rainbow' pact may backfire in Gujarat

New Delhi: The BJP feels that the Congress’ efforts to stitch together a rainbow coalition of different castes will backfire as the two groups the party plans to bring together — the Patidars and OBCs — have common interests and have competing aspirations.

The saffron party thus feels this move by the Congress will backfire and end up boosting its prospects. Patidar leader Hardik Patel’s warning to the Congress to commit itself to his community’s quota demand by November 3 or face dire consequences is being seen by the BJP as a clear sign of these contradictions.

The Congress has already inducted Alpesh Thakor, who rallied the community against including Patidars in the existing OBC quota.

The BJP, which has been in power in the state since 1995, has relied on the consolidation of voters around its Hindutva and development plank, keeping a lead of nearly 10 per cent over the Congress in voteshare.

The Patidars have also been big BJP supporters and some party leaders insist a majority of them will continue to back it despite a sense of unrest among a section of the community against it.

Political analysts, however, believe Mr Patel’s campaign against the BJP has struck a chord in the community as the quota issue raised by him has more resonance than Keshubhai Patel’s fight, which was confined to opposing then CM Narendra Modi.

Interestingly, the existing constitutional bar on quotas at 50 per cent makes it impossible for any party to guarantee a separate quota for Patels.