OBC, Dalit scions of political families to lead the smallest Congress Legislative Party in Gujarat ever

In his first media interaction after being welcomed by partymen at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, Chavda gave an idea regarding the party’s role in the Assembly, and said that the Congress will play a “constructive role” as an opposition party. He said the Congress will “support if the government brings in projects or plans that are in the interest of Gujarat and Gujaratis”, and would raise its voice within and outside the Vidhan Sabha, if it found the government was working against the interest of the state or if the “constitutional rights of the people were being violated”.

Coming from a prominent political family, this marks a new beginning for Chavda, 46, who had been handed the baton of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president from cousin and former Union minister Bharatsinh Solanki in 2018, and held the position till 2021, when the party was wiped out in the local body elections in February of that year.

Solanki is son of the late chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, whose father-in-law Ishwarbhai Chavda, was a freedom fighter and five-time Congress Lok Sabha MP from Anand, making Solanki and Chavda grand-cousins.

After the Congress’s debacle in the 2021 local body elections, Chavda and the then LoP Paresh Dhanani, had resigned, taking moral responsibility.

In 2004, Chavda won his first Assembly seat in the by-elections to Borsad, a seat vacated by grand-cousin Bharatsinh, who had won the Lok Sabha seat from Anand and went on to become a minister in the UPA government. Chavda went on to win the Borsad seat again in the 2007 General Elections and then shifted to Anklav, his birthplace, a seat he has been winning since 2012.

At the media interaction, Chavda said the results were “contrary” to the atmosphere built up before the elections. “The people felt harassed by price rise, joblessness, economic slowdown and corruption. The government had failed on all fronts, people of many classes and regions were angry with the government, government employees were agitating against it… At such a time, there was acceptance [for the Congress]… An atmosphere was there [in favour of the Congress] before the elections, but the results are contrary to this. Everyone — even the voter, has doubts, as has the Congress worker — that the outcome is not commensurate with the hard work we put in. Certainly, there will be introspection by the Congress party. Some social organisations and NGOs are also studying the outcome, and whatever comes out of it, will decide our future strategy,” said Chavda.

To a question on the BJP government not being inclined to grant the Leader of Opposition (LoP) status to the leader of the Congress Legislative party, which comes with some privileges, Chavda said, “The Assembly is a constitutional temple of justice. There are rules, and we expect that [the government will work] keeping its rules in mind, but the LoP position is not for the attendant government privileges or facilities. We all understand that it’s to keep working for the public and fight for their rights. Through this position, we want to be the voice of the people.”

“We will fight as a constructive opposition and wherever there is corruption, failures of the government, injustices or atrocities on anyone, if there are attempts to threaten or suppress anyone, be it from the administration or government, we will strongly raise our voices in the Vidhan Sabha and if required will take the fight to the street,” said Chavda.

“I want to assure our workers that although we did not get a majority or the public mandate was not on our side, we will fight for the rights of the people, shoulder to shoulder. And where the government brings in good positive works and projects, there will be support and where there is wrongdoing, where there is injustice to people, we will fight as a strong opposition,” the former GPCC president said.

Chavda, an OBC, has a diploma in Chemical Engineering and is also chairman of the Anklav APMC, apart from holding positions in several local co-operative bodies. He is also a director in the Gujarat State Co-operative Bank which has Ajay Patel, a close associate of Union Home and Co-operation Minister Amit Shah, as chairperson.

Chavda’s deputy in the Gujarat Assembly will be Congress MLA from Danilimda constituency of Ahmedabad city Shailesh Parmar. This is the second time the 53-year-old legislator has been selected by the party as its deputy leader in the Gujarat Assembly. In the last Assembly too, Parmar was the deputy leader of the Congress party.

Danilimda is a constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste communities and Shailesh is one of the senior most MLAs in the House from the community. Politics runs in Shailesh’s family as his father, late Manubhai Parmar, was a tall Dalit leader in Gujarat who was a minister in a Congress government in Gujarat.

Shailesh has been elected to the Gujarat assembly for the fifth term. Before Danilimda, he also represented Shaherkotda constituency, when it used to be reserved for the SC community. In the last Assembly elections, Shailesh defeated the BJP’s Naresh Vyas by a margin of over 13,000 votes. Shailesh’s father Manubhai (Manharbhai) Parmar used to represent the Shaherkotda constituency till 1998, after which it was won by the BJP in 2002, before Shailesh won it back for the Congress in 2007.

Shailesh has done his Bachelor of Education from Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Prayag. By vocation, he is a farmer who is also into construction business. At home, Shailesh has a wife and a son and a daughter. His wife, Yashoda, is a fashion designer.

Shailesh has two criminal cases pending against him, one of which is of defamation while the other is related to unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint. In the last Gujarat Assembly, Shailesh won the Best MLA award along with BJP’s Jitu Sukhadia.

Commenting on Shailesh’s political work and his contribution to the party, a senior Gujarat Congress leader said, “Over the years, Shailesh has earned a reputation as an aggressive orator in the Assembly, with his unique style of raising issues. He always does a lot of homework before delivering a speech in the Assembly, and people appreciate his speeches in the House on issues of law and order and economic and administrative conditions of the state. He has won the award of the Best MLA as well.”

“He has won from Danilimda constituency, considered a Congress bastion. However, the fact that he has won it in 2022 as well, despite huge efforts by BJP to defeat him, can’t be overlooked,” the Congress leader added.

He further said, “One may not like his style of functioning, but his contribution to the party can’t be denied. He has performed all responsibilities given by the party since the days of his appointment as general secretary of the Gujarat Youth Congress. His grip over SC and minority communities in his constituency is very strong.”