Final round of crucial Gujarat polls Sunday

Dec 15, 2007, 4:56 GMT

Ahmedabad, Dec 15 (IANS) With the curtains down on the high-decibel campaign, it is over to the people of north and central Gujarat who will Sunday vote in the second and final round of the assembly election that will be decisive for Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the election campaign from both main parties, the BJP and the Congress, initially focussed on a debate on economic development in the state since 2002, it soon shifted to trading of charges and calling names, leading to the Election Commission notices to Modi as well as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Modi also faces a contempt of court notice from the Supreme Court for his remarks at an election rally Dec 4 allegedly justifying the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a Muslim youth who was wrongly branded terrorist, by police in November 2005.

Modi, often called the poster-boy of Hindutva for his hardline ideological stance, could only benefit from such controversial remarks with communal undertones, observers here say.

He targeted the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi for its allegedly soft stance in tackling terrorism due to its 'vote bank politics' - his shorthand for bias towards the minority Muslim community.

Gandhi, in reply, repeatedly referred to the 1999 Indian Airlines plane hijack which had then foreign minister Jaswant Singh of BJP going to Kandhar to release dreaded militant Masood Azhar as demanded by the hijackers.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram rubbished Modi's tall claims on the development front, even as the chief minister told the people that Gujarat was being maligned.

He has maintained that this is a battle for Gujarat's pride - the BJP's slogan is 'Jeetega Gujarat' (Gujarat will win). On the other hand, Gandhi has reiterated in her rallies that this is a fight for democratic values of equality and justice.

The BJP is confident about its performance in the second round, which covers urban centres like Ahmedabad and Vadodara where Modi is perceived to be especially popular.

The two cities were the main flashpoints in the communal violence of 2002, leading to a polarised electorate. The BJP had won a record 127 seats in the 182-member house in last elections later that year.

The BJP is seen as especially strong in north Gujarat - Modi hails from Vadnagar town in this region - as his government has taken up a number of developmental projects there.

The Congress, which had an advantage in the first phase of polling Tuesday for 87 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat - where anti-Modi rebels from BJP are on a strong wicket - expects to do well in central Gujarat and the adjoining tribal belt.

In the last assembly elections, the BJP, in the aftermath of the sectarian strife, had wrested these two key regions that were traditional Congress strongholds.

The Congress has since focused on central Gujarat and the region was largely responsible for boosting its performance in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

Leading candidates in the second round include Modi, his rival, central minister Dinsha Patel, state ministers Anandiben Patel, Amit Shah and Ashok Bhatt and veteran Congress leader Narhari Amin.

A total of 18.7 million people are eligible to vote in 95 constituencies with 599 candidates in the fray. While the fight is mainly between the BJP and the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party is also contesting independently.

The counting of votes takes place Dec 23.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service