The Congress came, the Congress saw and the Congress left with their tails between their legs, but Narendra Modi’s dominant position in Gujarat is not unthreatened. Opposition has come from an unlikely quarter - octogenarian and former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has proved to be a tougher foe than even Congress scion Rahul Gandhi (whose embarrassing potato speech left his partymen red in the face). It won’t be a piece of cake for Modi to win Surat and Saurashtra, as the famous diamond polishing business industry from Surat backs Patel and the Leuva Patel community’s loyalties also bend towards Keshubhai.

Keshubhai’s GPP vs Narendra’s BJP
Keshubhai Patel’s newly founded Gujarat Parivartan Party is banking upon the Leuva Patel community for votes. The community currently dominates 17 constituencies in Saurashtra and Kutch . Patel’s GGP contains many rebel leaders who left the BJP and Sangh Parivar ranks to join his battle against Modi.

Will the ‘K’ factor work?
All eyes will be on the performance of the ‘Keshubhai’ factor in crucial regions like Surendra Nagar, Rajkot , Jamnagar , Amreli and Porbandar. The ‘K’ factor, as it is called, (and we think Ekta Kapoor would approve) is expected to snatch some influential seats, if not all from Modi. It should be easy for Patel to garner votes in Saurashtra as the ‘Moditva’ is the weakest there.

‘The children poke fun at him, Modi will go this time’
The 84-year-old former CM, whose hobbies include philosophical reading, nature and music, is confident of emerging as the winner in the assembly elections. After casting his vote, Patel said, "There is a wave of change in entire Gujarat now, be it the tribal areas, coastal region, Ahmedabad, towns or villages. People have rejected him (Modi). The children poke fun at him. Narendra Modi will go this time.” It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Patel during phase one of voting (that started today). The Election Commission slapped a notice on him for violating the election code of conduct, after he went to the booth in a pilot car.

Twitter doesn’t seem to particularly love the leader, but he was a top trending topic during the day. Here are some funny tweets:

Jayadev Shastri (@jdshastri26)
Heavy voter turn out in Gujarat that means Keshubhai Patel's Geriartric Piles Party will be history post Counting of votes.

Nikhil (@nikhilsince86)
84 year old keshubhai patel contesting election in gujrat ..that's the power and trust of patel community .

Faking News(@fakingnews)
Keshubhai Patel's party symbol is a cricket bat. A coalition with Congress would have made sense if BJP's symbol was a ball.

Lloyd Mathias(@LloydMathias)
In 2012, 2 ex #BJP CMs have quit & formed their own political parties: Yeddyurappa- KJP; Keshubhai Patel - GPP. Is Vasundhara next?

Will the former Gujarat CM return to his lost seat? Also do you think Keshubhai Patel is a better leader than Narendra Modi? Tell us in the comments section!

Also see
Assembly elections: Gujarat votes
10 things you didn't know about Narendra Modi