Navsari, April 2 (IANS): CR Patil, Gujarat BJP chief and the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Navsari, reached the constituency on Tuesday to campaign in the party’s stronghold.

He has three events scheduled for the day and will start with a programme at the Gujarat Chemical Port Limited. Then he will go for a meeting with beneficiaries of the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, and on to another event at Prasang Party plot in Navsari.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, CR Patil, representing the BJP, secured a victory in the Navsari constituency with 972,739 votes, towering over his Congress opponent, Patel Dharmesh Bhim, by a margin of 689,668 votes.

This victory spoke of the BJP's strength in the region which has been growing since the seat's inception post the 2008 delimitation exercise.

The first election in 2009 saw CR Patil becoming an MP, a position he has maintained through repeated electoral successes.

Despite the Congress' efforts, this seat has eluded its grasp for the last three elections.

Historically, Navsari, known as Navasarika in the 7th Century, holds cultural importance, especially for the Parsi community, marking it as their initial settlement in India.

The district's journey through time saw its affiliation with Surat until 1949, later becoming part of Valsad with Surat's reorganisation in 1964, and eventually declared a separate district in 1997.