BJP faces protests over Gujarat candidate selection

Even as Kshatriya communities continued their protests against BJP candidate Parshottam Rupala over his controversial remarks about former princely families, the BJP was faced with another hurdle as party workers of two different groups clashed over the candidate in Amreli.

The severe infighting in Amreli — after the party dropped MP Naran Kachchdiya — surfaced as supporters of the outgoing MP and those of Bharat Sutariya, the party nominee in the Lok Sabha seat, clashed late on Saturday night.

After the clashes, several members were taken to the local hospital; later, Mr. Kachchdiya was also taken there.

So far, Mr. Kachchdiya has not made any statement but people close to him have said that he was disappointed by the par

This is the first time the ruling party is witnessing such a crisis after declaring its candidates

ty’s decision to replace him despite his performance. He has been MP since 2009.

The clashes between the members of the two groups occurred after the meeting with the cluster incharge and former Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, who has said that Mr. Sutariya will remain the party candidate.

Mr. Sutariya was the president of Amreli district panchayat.

This is the first time that the ruling party is witnessing such a crisis after it declared its candidates in the State. Earlier, the party had to announce new candidates for Vadodara and Sabarkantha after the nominees opted out from the electoral race following protests from the local cadre. Though the party did not make any official statement regarding the clashes in Amreli, insiders said that the protests continued despite the high command’s efforts to sort out differences.

In Sabarkantha, even after the party nominated a new candidate, the local cadre were upset about that it was Shobhana Baraiya, wife of former Congress legislator Mehandra Baraiya.