Former Gujarat Congress MlA Raghavji Patel, who had voted against his own party candidate Ahmed Patel in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls and resigned from the Assembly after the RS elections, joined the BJP on Friday.
Raghavji’s vote was, however, declared invalid which ultimately helped Ahmed Patel to emerge victorious. Though the Congress wouldn’t mind the former Jamnagar rural MlA’s joining the BJP, the Sonia-led party would be definitely concerned over Raghavaji’s 500 supporters too choose to follow their leader and worn saffron scarf.
Among those who joined BJP along with the former legislator are members of Dhrol, Jodiya and Jamanagar taluka panchayats. With joining of these panchayat members, the Congress ruled equations are likely to turn in favour of BJP in the panchayats of these talukas ahead of the Assembly polls. Not just these panchayats, but the Congress has lost control of Jamnagar and Dhrol marketing yards too.
Raghavji joined the BJP formally in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and State BJP chief Jitu Vaghani, along with another former legislator from Congress Hakubha Jadeja. Both the men are part of 14 legislators who quit the party and resigned as legislators along with Shankarsinh Vaghela. Other than Raghavji and Jadeja, over half a dozen senior Congressmen from Jamnagar district, presidents, vice-presidents and members of taluka panchayats, as well as 160 sarpanches and vice-sarphanches quit the Congress to join the BJP at the event.
The 14 legislators, who had quit Congress during and after Rajya Sabha elections have been joining BJP in a staggered manner. While three had joined BJP before RS polls, 10 others had already announced their intent to do so soon after voting in RS polls was complete.
With the big man Shankarsinh Vaghela claiming that he would not be joining any political party, the BJP has been making a spectacle of the move by these men, holding multiple rallies in the respective constituencies of the rebel former Congress legislators and formally inducting them in to the party. While most of them have formally joined BJP, Shankarsinh Vaghela’s son Mahendrasinh Vaghela too is slated to join the saffron party in near future.