BJP faces rebellion ahead of Gujarat polls
AT LEAST one sitting BJP member of the legislative assembly (MLA) and four former legislators of the western Indian state of Gujarat have threatened to contest as independents after being denied tickets by the BJP for the state’s upcoming assembly elections.
While some of these disgruntled leaders have said they will make their next move after consulting supporters, former BJP MLA and the party’s known tribal face Harshad Vasava already filed his nomination papers on Friday (11) as an independent from Nandod seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates.
Vasava is the president of Gujarat
BJP’s Scheduled Tribe Morcha and represented the erstwhile Rajpipla seat between 2002 and 2007 and from 2007 to 2012. Nandod in Narmada district is currently held by the Congress.
The BJP has fielded Dr Darshana Deshmukh from the seat.
Unhappy over the announcement, Vasava resigned from his post in the BJP and submitted his nomination papers for the Nandod seat on Friday.
Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.
The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
‘There is an original BJP and a duplicate BJP here. We will expose those who have side-lined committed workers and given key posts to newcomers. I have sent my resignation to the party. People of this area know how much work I have done as an MLA between 2002 and 2012,’ Vasava told reporters after filing his nomination as an independent.
In the neighbouring Vadodara district, one sitting and two former BJP MLAs are up in arms against the party after being denied tickets.
Six-time MLA Madhu Shrivastav from Vaghodia, who has been denied a ticket, said he will contest as an independent if his supporters want him to.
The BJP has fielded Ashwin Patel from the seat. Another former BJP MLA Dinesh Patel aka Dinu Mama of Padra seat in Vadodara district has also said he would contest the election independently.
The BJP has given the ticket to Chaitanyasinh Zala. The seat is held by the Congress. In Karjan, former BJP MLA Satish Patel is unhappy after the BJP decided to repeat sitting legislator Akshay Patel. Akshay Patel had won on the Congress ticket from the seat in 2017.