Over 200 PAAS members join BJP in blow to Cong, AAP

In a significant political development, over 200 members of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) have made a shift to the BJP, leaving the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Saurashtrian Patidardominated areas of Surat. The meeting took place at Gurudev Farm in Sarthana on Monday evening.

The mass defection occurred during a clandestine meeting organized by dissident AAP leaders Alpesh Kathiriya and Dharmik Malaviya, who recently switched allegiance to the BJP. The primary agenda of the meeting was to persuade PAAS members to align with the BJP and advocate for the Patidar reservation with the support of the Gujarat BJP government.

Alpesh Kathiriya and Dharmik Malaviya's involvement in the PAAS agitation in Gujarat, with Surat as its epicentre, is noteworthy. During the 2015 agitation spearheaded by Hardik Patel and Nilesh Kumbhani, now infamous for engineering his disqualification from the Surat Lok Sabha seat, played a prominent role alongside Kathiriya and Malaviya.

Following their stint with the PAAS, Kathiriya and Malaviya joined the AAP party and contested from the Varachha and Olpad assembly seats during the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections. However, they suffered defeat at the hands of BJP candidates.

The mass defection of PAAS members to the BJP signifies a significant blow to the Congress and AAP's influence in the Patidar stronghold of Surat. It underscores the shifting political dynamics and the BJP's growing appeal among sections of the Patidar community.

The move highlights the strategic manoeuvring of the BJP, to leverage its influence of former PAAS leaders to bolster its support base.