It must have been with considerable confidence that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination papers as the BJP candidate for Maninagar assembly segment in Ahmedabad for the third time on Friday.
After all, this BJP bastion voted Modi to the assembly with more
than 65% votes in the past two elections in 2007 and 2002.
Located in the poor eastern part of Ahmedabad, Maninagar is a posh locality of 2.27 lakh voters, of whom, nearly 1 lakh are prosperous Banias and Brahmins, if one were to look at caste profiles.
And, Modi has responded to the majority’s faith in him by developing the constituency. Compared with the rest of the city, Maninagar has better roads and drainage, a swanky bus rapid transit system, flyovers and storm water drainage.
The wonder of it all is that most of the development projects have been partially funded by the United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme.