Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife, Rivaba Jadeja, is a probable BJP candidate for next month's Assembly election in Gujarat, sources said Wednesday. Rivaba - who joined the BJP in 2019 - may replace a sitting candidate.
Rivaba Jadeja, wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. (PTI)
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However, nothing is finalised, sources stressed.
The party is expected to announce a first list shortly. Home minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda on Tuesday met the state unit's core group - which includes chief minister Bhupendra Patel and state unit chief CR Patil - in Delhi.
Today the party's Central Election Committee is scheduled to meet.
After joining the BJP three years ago Rivaba Jadeja reportedly sought a ticket from Jamnagar (North). The seat is held by the BJP's Dharmendrasinh Jadeja.
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The BJP is expected to retain Gujarat and it plans to do so in style - to make a statement before other state polls next year and the 2024 election.
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The BJP is expected to retain Gujarat and it plans to do so in style - to make a statement before other state polls next year and the 2024 election.
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The party is looking to inject new energy into the organisation and this, sources told news agency PTI, could mean some senior leaders may be dropped.
In 2017 the BJP won 99 seats to the Congress' 77.
This time the contest is seen as triangular one (albeit still heavily in the saffron party's favour) with the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party.
Last week the first of the pre-poll surveys was released, with ABP's C-Voter giving the BJP an easy win. Over 56 per cent of the nearly 23,000 people asked said they planned to vote for the prime minister's party.
Only 17 per cent planned to vote Congress and 20 per cent for the AAP.
The BJP's hand was strengthened Tuesday after senior Congress leader Mohansinh Rathva - a 10-time MLA - quit and joined them.
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.
