Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's father, Anirudhsinh Jadeja on Tuesday urged people not to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Raviba Jadeja, who is also the cricketer's wife, on the final day of campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections.
He requested the public to vote for the Congress candidate. The BJP has allocated Rivaba Jadeja a ticket from the North Jamnagar constituency. Her husband, Rabindra Jadeja, has been seen supporting his wife, whilst Rivaba's sister-in-law, Naynaba, has launched an anti-Rivaba campaign. Naynaba is a member of the Congress party and a significant campaigner for Congress candidate for Jamnagar.
A video of a vote appeal for the Congress candidate in Gujarat's Jamnagar North has gone viral.
In the video, Anirudh Singh Jadeja appealed, "I, Anirudh Singh Jadeja, urge you to vote for Congress candidate Bipendra Singh Jadeja. He makes me think of my younger brother. I especially appeal to Rajput voters to vote for Bhupendra Singh," news agency IANS reported.
Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja was seen campaigning for his wife in Jamnagar, as well as for BJP candidates in Jamnagar and Devbhumi Dwarka.
According to reports, Ravindra Jadeja's sister Naynaba Jadeja was interested in running for the same seat and was on the Congress panel list. The Congress dismissed Naynaba and nominated Bipendra Singh after the BJP released Rivaba Jadeja's name. Naynaba is fiercely campaigning for the Congress candidate and is unafraid to criticise her sister-in-law.
Naynaba accused her sister-in-law Rivaba Jadeja of campaigning with children. "She is campaigning for children to gain sympathy. Because using children is considered child labour, senior Congress leaders filed a complaint against Rivaba with the Election Commission," Naynba had said while addressing a press conference last week.
While criticising Rivaba, Naynaba raised suspicions about her caste as well. Rivaba's nomination paperwork, according to Naynaba, had her name written as Riva Singh Hardev Singh Solanki. Ravindra Jadeja's name is written in brackets in this. While asserting this, Naynaba claimed that she is merely using Ravindra Jadeja's surname for the show, despite the fact that they have been married for 6 years and Rivasba is yet to change her surname.
Rivaba was asked how she might persuade the people of North Jamnagar to vote for her. Rivaba, according to Naynaba, is a Rajkot West assembly seat voter, yet she cannot run for Jamnagar North. "Rivaba will be unable to vote for herself, thus she cannot expect others to vote for her," she said.
(With Inputs From Agencies)