EX-MLA, another BJP leader join Gujarat Cong, cite injustice to OBCS

AHMEDABAD : Former BJP MLA Shamji Chauhan and former Rajkot mayor Ashok Dangar joined the Congress Tuesday, claiming that “injustice” was being meted out to the Other Backward Class (OBC) communities under the BJP rule in Gujarat.

The two were inducted into the Congress by party’s state unit president Amit Chavda and in-charge Rajiv Satav, during a function at party headquarters in Ahmedabad.

While Chauhan belongs to the Koli community, Dangar hails from the Ahir community.

Chauhan had resigned from the BJP in November last year after being denied ticket from the Chotila assembly seat in Surendrangar for assembly polls in December. For Dangar, it was a homecoming, as he had joined the BJP in 2012 after quitting the Congress. He was the mayor of Rajkot from 2000 to 2003, when the Congress was ruling the civic body.

Chavda said both the OBC leaders have joined the Congress without any precondition. “Both these leaders have realised that promises made by the BJP governments, in Gujarat as well as at the Centre, have not been fulfilled, with the poor becoming more poor...,” he said.

Chauhan, saidthe Koli community has been “ignored” by the BJP government in Gujarat. “The Kolis are the second largest community in Gujarat, after the Patidars. Yet, very few Koli MLAS have been given key posts in the government. Koli MLAS are not allowed to become even district or taluka presidents in the party (BJP). I am joining the Congress because of the BJP’S failure to do justice to the community,” said Chauhan.

SHAMJI CHAUHAN RESIGNED FROM THE BJP IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR, ASHOK DANGAR HAD BEEN WITH THE CONGRESS TILL HE JOINED THE BJP IN 2012