Heating up the political battle in Gujarat, suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife Shweta on Friday filed nomination papers as the Congress candidate from Maninagar to take on Narendra Modi.
Shweta, flanked by her husband, started a march along with her followers from Mahatma Gandhi’s Ashram here and reached the district collectorate office where she filed her nomination papers before returning officer PK Jadeja. Importantly, Shweta filed her nomination papers just minutes before the time scheduled for Modi to file his nomination papers from the central Ahmedabad constituency.
In the 2007 election, Modi had won Maninagar, which falls in Ahmedabad city, by around 75,000 votes defeating Dinsha Patel of the Congress. Although Shweta is not seen as someone who can defeat Modi in his home turf, her entry into the fray is significant and would ensure that the BJP does not take Modi’s victory as a foregone conclusion. ‘It is not a fight between equals. I am fully confident I am going with a true heart...I don’t have false promises to make,” Shweta said. ‘I have chosen to fight because they had implicated my husband in a very bad way. Me and my family were struggling to overcome it. Then I realised, it was not only my family but many other families who were struggling,” Shweta said in reply to why she chose to fight elections.
Shweta, flanked by her husband, started a march along with her followers from Mahatma Gandhi’s Ashram here and reached the district collectorate office where she filed her nomination papers before returning officer PK Jadeja. Importantly, Shweta filed her nomination papers just minutes before the time scheduled for Modi to file his nomination papers from the central Ahmedabad constituency.
In the 2007 election, Modi had won Maninagar, which falls in Ahmedabad city, by around 75,000 votes defeating Dinsha Patel of the Congress. Although Shweta is not seen as someone who can defeat Modi in his home turf, her entry into the fray is significant and would ensure that the BJP does not take Modi’s victory as a foregone conclusion. ‘It is not a fight between equals. I am fully confident I am going with a true heart...I don’t have false promises to make,” Shweta said. ‘I have chosen to fight because they had implicated my husband in a very bad way. Me and my family were struggling to overcome it. Then I realised, it was not only my family but many other families who were struggling,” Shweta said in reply to why she chose to fight elections.