Manoj Kotak replaces Dilip Patel, also a Gujarati; party indicates he will take on Congress’s Gujarati face more effectively in assembly polls.After the city Congress’s move on Sunday to appoint a Gujarati corporator as its spokesperson in the wake of the acrimony over the ‘anti-Gujarati’ editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana last week, the scramble to present a Gujarati face in election season saw BJP taking a similar step a day later. The party’s city unit asked Mulund corporator Manoj Kotak to take over from Dilip Patel, also a Gujarati, as group leader in the BJP – a move, according to party insiders, based on the fact that Kotak can speak better Marathi than Patel.Kotak’s appointment as group leader was announced to party corporators at a meeting by city president Ashish Shelar. Party sources said the move was triggered by Congress’s appointment of Pravin Chheda as spokesperson for Mumbai.The controversy triggered by the Saamana editorial made BJP change its plans of having a Marathi face for the upcoming Assembly elections, said party sources, adding that senior leaders felt Kotak would be able to better counter Chheda -- corporator from Ghatkopar and a diehard BJP man for 20 years till he switched loyalties and joined the Congress in 2012.Patel, sources said, was also seen as ‘mild-mannered’ and didn’t actively guide new corporators in the BMC. It was felt that the party’s presence in the civic body was being overshadowed by its alliance partner. “The party could not perform well in the BMC due to Patel’s lack of drive, though he held it together. Though the Sena is our partner, we have to make our party’s presence count. This didn’t happen with Patel as group leader,” said a BJP corporator who declined to be named.Shelar said the party doesn’t believe in dividing the voters or partymen into sections according to language or region. “Our group leader in BMC -- Dilip Patel was Gujarati, but we never considered him as one. Patel has completed two years as group leader, and it is time to give an opportunity to others,” he said.“Kotak is young, dynamic and an aggressive leader, though he is into politics since 20 years and is a threetime corporator. Though he is Gujarati by birth, he was brought up in a Marathi area. He speaks Marathi well. He is conversant with the cultures of both communities,” Shelar added.Kotak was upfront in calling his dual culture background a plus point in the current scenario. “I can communicate well in Marathi, and am on good terms with many important Marathi figures and leaders. It will be very easy for me to take the Marathi and Gujarati people as one. I spent my childhood with Marathi friends,” said Kotak.None of this, however, appeared to convince the MNS. “All political parties are trying to keep their vote banks intact. “The BJP feels that Gujaratis are their voters and they are opting for these tactics to keep them in good humour,” said Sandeep Deshpande, MNS group leader in BMC.