Varsha Vasava, the second wife of AAP Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava, said on Tuesday that her husband has been falsely framed in an alleged case of rioting, extortion and assault of forest officers by the BJP-ruled Gujarat government as part of a conspiracy to force him join the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Chaitar, a tribal leader in Narmada district, has been evading arrest since the filing of the FIR on November 2 while his wife Shakuntala, personal assistant Jitendra Vasava and a farmer, Ramesh Vasava, are in judicial custody after being booked in the case. Chaitar has also been accused of firing a weapon in the air to intimidate forest officials at his residence on October 30, the day of the incident. Varsha was speaking at a media interaction organised by Jan Abhiyan Badle Gujarat – formed under the guidance of former chief minister Suresh Mehta – which takes up issues faced by people in the state. The group on Tuesday held the interaction to highlight issues faced by the tribal community in the state and the alleged government apathy towards them. “Chaitarbhai has been framed in a false FIR. It is a conspiracy of the BJP,” she said. She added, “The government is unfairly harassing him. This BJP government wants to induct him into the party and is therefore hatching a conspiracy. In the wake of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government is after (Chaitar).. the BJP is fearing that if he contests, Chaitarbhai is likely to win the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat and therefore, they are after him.” Varsha alleged that the charge that Chaitar had fired in the air was false and that neither the Forensic Science Laboratory nor the sniffer dog squad have found any evidence of the same. “They have made a note of firing in the FIR. However, that is totally false. People from the forensic laboratory had come home and they did not get any proof. They even came with a black (sniffer) dog, but no proof was found.” Varsha claimed that Chaitar has been raising issues faced by the people, which the government does not like. Besides Varsha, the press conference was attended by Suresh Mehta, AAP leaders Umesh Makwana and Radhika Rathva as well as Congress' Arjun Rathva. Makwana claimed that BJP has been making offers to AAP leaders to join the party. “We are getting many offers (to join BJP). When we say no, we get threats that we, our family members, would be framed and false cases lodged,” he said. Meanwhile, tribal activists and community leaders like Lakhan Musafir, Lalsinh Gamit, Dayaram, Keshav Rathod and Amarsinh Chaudhary, who also attended the press conference, spoke in regard to land acquisition for the Statue of Unity project, opening of false government offices in Chhota Udepur and Dahod districts, harassment of tribal leaders, closing down of government schemes meant for tribals, non-implementation of state programmes and low budget allocation.
