Known world over as the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, this coastal town in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat only has a blurred memory of the ‘Father of the Nation.’ Instead, it remembers its ‘Godfathers’ who are facing each other in the April 30 elections. The BJP has fielded Vitthal Radadia against whom a dozen criminal and other cases are registered. He is best remembered as the one who attacked a toll booth on a national highway. Soon after the 2012 Assembly election, he and his son crossed over from the Congress to the BJP.

But the BJP chose to nominate him as a Patel muscleman to blunt the political impact of the remnants of the Keshubhai Patel faction, after the retirement of the former Chief Minister from politics. The Congress, out of power since 1995, no longer has a muscleman of its own. So it chose to handover the Porbandar seat to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on a ‘seat-sharing’ arrangement.

The NCP, in turn, saw a ‘Godfather’ in Kandahal Jadeja, and nominated him against Radadia.

In the candidatures of Radadia and Jadeja, Gujarat has found the best combination of dominant castes and crime syndicates.

These candidates, rather than their top party leaders, are the main issue in this constituency. . A couple of decades ago, the town became notorious for its criminal gangs that fought bloody battles amongst themselves, with the police and the government. Slowly, they entered politics and government, becoming lawmakers themselves.

Kandhal Jadeja’s father Sarman Munjha was a notorious gangster and ‘contract killer’ in Saurashtra.

But a leading spiritual leader and social reformer, Pandurang Shashtri, managed to wean him away from the world of crime, something that led to the reformed man’s killing. This led to the gang’s leadership being passed on to Santokhben Jadeja, Kandhal’s mother. She was even elected a legislator from Kutiyana.

At present, Kandhal is a sitting legislator from Kutiyana.

Modi’s national status Babubhai Bokharia, a Porbandar-based BJP leader and a Minister in the Modi Government, who is Radadiya’s campaign chief, counts the preponderance of Patel voters in the constituency and Modi’s national status as the reason why his party would come out in flying colours. Incidentally, Bokharia himself was convicted in a mining scam and is fighting it out in the court.

Kandhal is banking on the Mehr community votes and also of the Dalits, Muslims and Kharvas.

In this crucial constituency having 15.16 lakh voters, the Patels constitute the largest chunk with 3.89 lakh voters. The other important communities are: Dalits (1.22 lakh), Kolis (1.34 lakh), Mehrs (1.23 lakh), Muslims (96,000) and Kshatriyas (42,587).

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