The Congress may not touch the BJP or its poster boy in Gujarat, Narendra Modi, with a barge pole, but there are no such compulsions in embracing other individuals. The party on Wednesday gave tickets to six former BJP MLAs, who had turned rebels after being denied re-election in their respective seats by Modi.
The Congress has also finalised a seat sharing arrangement with the NCP and CPI(M) in the state. The NCP is likely to get four seats while the CPI(M) will contest on a single seat.
The inclusion of the six former BJP MLAs in the Congress list for the first phase announced on Wednesday, however, has raised eyebrows even as party circles sought to justify it on grounds that they were now no longer with the BJP.
Among those who were given tickets include Dhirubhai Gajera from Surat City North, a seat, which he had won the last time as a BJP candidate. The other BJP rebels from Saurashtra whose names figure in the list are Babubhai Tanti from Dhari, Becharbhai Bhadani from Lathi, Bavkubhai N Undhad from Babra. All three had won the 2002 Assembly elections on BJP tickets from the same constituencies.
Two others, Gopalbhai Dhua from Mundra and Narendrasinh Jadeja from Abdasa are rebel leaders from Kutch and had won as BJP candidates in 2002.