Gujarat Elections 2022: BJP fields Mohan Konkani, 1st Christian candidate in 20 years

Ahmedabad, Nov 17: The Bharatiya Janata Party for the first time in 20 years has fielded a Christian candidate Mohan Konkani on the Vyara seat for the two-phase Gujarat assembly polls scheduled next month.

The 48-year-old Konkani will fight against four-time Congress MLA Punaji Gamit. The Vyara assembly constituency, considered a Congress stronghold has 45 per cent of the 2.23 lakh voters as Christians.

Konkani a social worker and farmer by profession has been a Bharatiya Janata Party member since 1995. In the 2015 Tapi district panchayat polls, he defeated Congress's cooperative leader Mavji Chaudhary.

"I am indebted to the party's high command and the BJP for their trust and faith in me. On December 1, I will make history in Vyara and I am certain of it. The political atmosphere in Vyara has improved and I can count on the support of the constituency's 72,000 Christian voters," Konkani told Hindustan Times.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders, including its national president JP Nadda besides Union ministers and chief ministers, are expected to address public meetings on Friday in the 89 Gujarat assembly constituencies going to the polls in the first phase of elections on December 1.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan will address three and four rallies, respectively. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union ministers VK Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste are among other party leaders who will be addressing rallies.

Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat are the regions going to the polls in the first phase while 93 seats in north and central parts of the state will have polls on December 5.

The BJP won assembly polls in Gujarat for six consecutive times since 1995 and is pulling out all the stops to keep its winning streak uninterrupted in the traditionally bipolar poll involving the Congress, spiced up this time by the entry of the AAP.