Asia

Congress in ‘tie-up talks’ with BTP for Gujarat polls as Chhotubhai flays AAP’s ‘usurping’ bid

September 14, 2022
Henry Club

A day after the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) supremo Chhotubhai Vasava announced that his party was breaking ties with its prospective alliance partner Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Gujarat Assembly polls slated for December this year, Chhotubhai Tuesday shared stage with the BJP and Congress leaders at Dediapada in Narmada – the constituency of his son and BTP president Mahesh Vasava – at an event held to unveil the statue of the tribal leader Birsa Munda.

Flanked by Congress MLA PD Vasava, Narmada district panchayat president and BJP leader Paryusha Vasava, ex-BJP MLA Motilal Vasava and a rebel AAP leader Niranjan Vasava, Chhotubhai said the BTP had “moved on” from the AAP. Urging the government to install more statues of Birsa Munda, Mahesh said, “If the government can spend Rs 3,000 crore on the Statue of Unity, it can certainly erect more statues of Birsa Munda to inspire the tribal communities.”

At the event, Chhotubhai, 78, did not elaborate on his party’s break-up with the AAP, just saying that the “doors had been closed” on this matter. But for the BTP, which had started its political innings with a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls, finding another ally has become crucial now.

The BTP claims that it is ready to contest Gujarat’s all 182 Assembly in the upcoming polls, but insiders say that Chhotubhai and Mahesh had a closed-door meeting with Congress leader Pawan Khera a few days ago when the latter visited the residence of the tribal leaders, who have their support bases in South Gujarat, mainly in Narmada and Bharuch districts.

The BTP, which has currently only two MLAs, Chhotubhai and Mahesh, has claimed that the AAP had been “sidelining” Chhotubhai and trying to “usurp” the BTP’s strength in the tribal areas and that the final trigger came when the AAP announced its candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections from Chhota Udepur and Nandod Assembly constituencies without consulting the Vasavas. Moreover, the AAP candidate in Nandod is Prafful Vasava, a BTP leader who was expelled from the party. Prafful’s candidature has also sparked a rebellion within the AAP in Nandod.

The AAP, which does not have much presence in the tribal areas, describes its break-up with the BTP as “hypothetical” as the alliance itself. Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia said, “We have not formalised a pre-poll alliance with the BTP. It is they (BTP), who have decided that they are breaking up with AAP. We will contest independently, with our own strategy and management on all 182 assembly seats, including those seats where the BTP will contest. An alliance is like an understanding. We cannot stop BTP leaders and workers entering the AAP and have always welcomed them and given them great respect.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, Chhotubhai said, “The AAP leaders are not paying heed to us and our issues. They are taking BTP leaders from the backdoor and making them sport the symbol of AAP in public meetings. They want BTP leaders to fight on AAP ticket and use our strength because they have never contested in rural areas like those in Gujarat… In the public meetings in tribal areas so far, they exploited our popularity to project Kejriwal as the hero but they are not even giving us importance. That is not how an alliance can be. If they have come into the state from outside and need hand-holding, they need to understand that respect can only be mutual. They have not cared to answer our queries regarding the alliance when they began declaring candidates.”

The BTP is especially miffed since the AAP has fielded candidates from at least five seats that the former had openly sought as part of seat-sharing. BTP national vice-president Ambalal Jadav said, “During our discussions (with AAP), we had put forth our desire to contest all 27 tribal seats of Gujarat and a few others like Bardoli… But AAP went ahead and fielded candidates from ST seats of Khedbrahma, Nizar, Chhota Udepur and Nandod as well as from Bardoli (SC)… They did not even bother to consult or discuss us. It shows they were only using Chhotubhai’s image to find their way into the tribal areas, where no one knows AAP despite their existence for over five years.”

BTP leaders said that the cracks began appearing between the two parties from their first joint rally held in Chanderiya in Bharuch on May 1 this year, when Kejriwal also visited Vasavas’ house. Jadav said, “In the Chanderiya rally itself, AAP wanted the BTP workers and tribal audience to sport the AAP sash and logos. They were not happy to have the BTP symbols on display in the background.”

The BTP symbol was missing from the AAP’s August 7 rally in Bodeli in Chhota Udepur district with Chhotubhai skipping it as the AAP had organised a press conference ahead of the rally to announce the party’s six-point guarantee for the tribal community. “We had agreed on 14-points of tribal issues that need to be addressed, but they went ahead and announced six guarantees without consulting us. The original deal was to have the guarantees announced jointly in the name of Kejriwal and Chhotubhai but AAP went ahead and announced it alone,” Jadav added.

Chhotubhai, who has termed AAP as the “BJP’s B-team”, however seems to be pushing his family aspirations too. A senior Congress leader said the party is “in talks” with the Vasavas as Chhotubhai is keen on fielding his second son, Dilip Vasava, too. “Chhotubhai is looking at three seats for his own family. While Mahesh will continue to contest from Dediapada and Chhotubhai will contest from Jhagadia, they are keen on a South Gujarat seat for Dilip Vasava. The party has assured them that they will be given a fair deal in seat-sharing if they patch up and we can have an alliance.”

The Congress leader said the party’s alliance with the BTP will ensure that the crucial tribal votes are not split to benefit the BJP. “Politics is simple math – there has been trouble in the past due to misunderstandings and other issues, but if the BTP and Congress contest separately and there is also AAP and BJP, the votes will only be divided unfairly and work against the BTP and Congress. A combined strength can help us retain our hold in the tribal areas,” the Congress leader said.

While Chhotubhai is non-committal about holding negotiations with the Congress, Jadav said, “We have two months to go for the polls still… We have a lot of time to come to a decision about reverting to the alliance with the Congress.”

Chhotubhai, who was earlier with the Janata Dal (U) till it split, had a long-standing personal relationship with top Congress strategist late Ahmed Patel, a fellow Bharuch leader. In 2017, when several Congress MLAs deserted the party, putting Patel’s re-election to the Rajya Sabha in jeopardy, it is believed that it was Chhotubhai’s vote, as Gujarat’s lone Janata Dal (U) MLA then, that ensured his victory.

Their relationship was however strained during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the Congress rejected Chhotubhai’s proposal to back him from the Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency against the BJP’s Mansukh Vasava, and instead fielded its own candidate, turning it into a triangular contest. Chhotubhai lost the poll, with the BJP going on to bag all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Following the 2020 Rajya Sabha elections, the BTP snapped ties with the Congress, saying the “coalition was unsustainable due to differences”. Chhotubhai also kept a distance from the Congress-backed tribal protests against the Par Tapi Narmada river linking project, which has now been suspended. Earlier this year, Rajesh Vasava, the BTP vice-president and a Chhotubhai confidant, switched to the Congress.

In the 2021 panchayat elections, while having an alliance with the AIMIM in Narmada district, the BTP’s election campaign, which revolved around the issue of tribal rights and the issue of the eco-sensitive zone being notified in 121 villages of the district, was unable to win a single seat in Garudeshwar taluka. In Dediapada taluka panchayat, where the JD(U) held 12 seats in 2015, the BTP tally dipped to two, even though Mahesh is Dediapada MLA. In Bharuch, the BTP lost three taluka panchayats, Valia, Jhagadia, and Netrang, that the JD(U) had won earlier.
The BTP’s break-up with the Congress coincided with its footprint shrinking even further in the tribal belts of Narmada and Bharuch districts.