Why is BJP courting Congress candidates despite election dominance in Gujarat?

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Gujarat chief CR Patil on Tuesday welcomed former Congress legislator Arjun Modhwadia and former Congress state working president Ambrish Der into the fold. The event took place at the party headquarters, Shree Kamalam, in Gandhinagar, a day after they resigned from the Congress.

Modhwadia, a veteran with over 40 years in the Congress has previously served as the Gujarat Congress president. He is the fourth sitting MLA from the Congress to make the switch to the BJP in recent months.
“Both in the state assembly and Parliament, the BJP has a clear majority, so it’s not that they were lacking somewhere. I have joined (BJP) to bring about social and economic change in politics,” said Modhwadia. “Modi’s leadership has steered the nation towards economic and social freedom, a vision that was once championed by Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi,” he added.
Earlier on February 27, the BJP enlisted Congress’ tribal leader and Rajya Sabha MP Naran Rathwa, along with his son Sangramsinh Rathwa, into the saffron party. Rathwa, a five-time Lok Sabha MP from Chhota Udepur, has served as Union minister of state for railways between 2004 and 2009.
The Congress is now left with only 13 seats in the Gujarat state assembly, with more defections anticipated soon. Many are left questioning why the BJP, which secured a significant victory with 156 seats (out of a total 182) in the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections and won all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat since 2014, is actively seeking leaders from the Opposition to join its ranks ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the past decade, more than forty senior Congress leaders have defected to the BJP in Gujarat.
The BJP fielded as many as 37 ex-Congress candidates who had switched to the saffron party since 2017. Of them, as many 34 candidates won, including OBC leader Alpesh Thakor (Gandhinagar South), Patidar leader Hardik Patel (Viramgam) and popular Koli leader and six-time MLA Kunvarji Bavaliya (Jasdan).
The BJP had done a similar experiment in Gujarat ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha by-elections. As many as seven sitting Congress MLAs who had won in the 2017 state elections joined the BJP. In the 2019 by-elections for seven Gujarat assembly seats, the BJP fielded five candidates, all former Congress legislators, including Alpesh Thakor. It won four and the Congress won three.
In 2020, under the leadership of BJP’s newly appointed chief CR Patil, by-elections were held for eight seats and BJP fielded six candidates who had switched from Congress. The saffron party won all eight seats.
“This time, the BJP’s game plan transcends mere seat acquisition. They’re strategically navigating to gain a psychological advantage over the voters. Their objective extends beyond mere dominance to assert total control, symbolising the complete collapse of the opposition Congress, which appears conspicuously absent in this strategic arena. The responsibility for failing to retain its senior leaders within the party squarely falls on the Congress itself,” said Amit Dholakia, a political science professor at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

While the BJP has maintained a stronghold in the state for over three decades, its recent moves to recruit Congress leaders indicate a strategic shift aimed at consolidating power and ensuring an even more resounding victory.
The Gujarat BJP has set an ambitious goal of winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats, each with a margin of over 5 lakh votes. In 2019, BJP chief Patil achieved a historic victory by securing the highest margin ever in a general election, winning with a lead of 6.9 lakh votes from the Navsari Lok Sabha seat.
Popular leaders like Modhwadia switching sides underscore the growing appeal of the ruling party among influential figures within the Opposition, showcasing the BJP’s attempt to consolidate its dominance.
“This is a different kind of politics where the BJP attempts to consolidate its power to such an extent that the Opposition becomes almost irrelevant. This strategy aims to sway floating voters or fence-sitters, who may feel compelled to vote for the BJP due to the perceived lack of alternative options,” said a BJP party leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The timing of these defections, occurring just before Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra enters Gujarat, adds insult to injury for the Congress. The Nyay Yatra, intended to galvanise support and energise the party base, now faces the challenge of maintaining momentum in the state amid these setbacks.

The BJP’s aggressive recruitment drive is not limited to Gujarat alone. Recent instances of Congress leaders defecting to the BJP across various states indicate a broader trend of disillusionment within the Opposition ranks. Factors such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effective governance at the Centre and the prana pratishtha of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya have been cited by defectors as key reasons for their switch.
“The BJP’s relentless pursuit of Congress leaders sends a clear message of political supremacy. By demonstrating its ability to attract high-profile defections, the BJP seeks to project an image of invincibility and demoralise the Opposition ranks,” said another BJP leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The trend of senior party leaders switching from Congress to BJP in Gujarat started in 2017. Back then, as many as 17 leaders, including former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, joined BJP before the 2017 assembly elections. This shift followed the high-profile Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat, where the senior Congress leader, late Ahmed Patel, narrowly secured victory with a deciding vote.
The BJP which won 99 seats in 2017, went to 2022 assembly elections with 111 MLAs after a series of defections and subsequent by-elections, reducing the Congress to 59 MLAs in 2022 from 77 in 2017.
The party suffered a serious setback in 2017 when out of the nine of 14 Congress sitting MLAs, who had defected to the BJP during the Rajya Sabha elections in August 2017. In 2017, there were no by-elections and the turncoats were directly fielded for assembly elections in December. The party changed its strategy for the 2022 assembly elections by testing the results of many Congress turncoats in the by-polls.
In addition to Congress leaders, other sitting MLAs have also shifted to the BJP in the last few months. Last December, Bhupendra Bhayani, an MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), resigned from the Visavadar seat, reducing AAP’s representation in the state assembly to four MLAs. Earlier this year, independent MLA Dharmendrasinh Vaghela also resigned from his position in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.
The influx of Congress leaders into the BJP has also stirred discontent among some leaders and party workers. They express dissatisfaction, believing that those who previously criticised the party are now being prioritized over long-standing members who have remained loyal to the saffron party for years.
The Congress MLA from Vaav constituency, Geniben Thakor said that there’s a growing fascination with the BJP lately, with “selfish individuals” jumping on board. Some join for business interests, feeling compelled by threats, while some are driven by fear of fabricated legal actions against themselves and their families, according to Thakor.