Gujarat Confidential: Couple ‘Clash’?

FORMER CONVENOR of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Dharmik Malaviya, has shown interest in contesting the coming Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) election on a BJP ticket from Mota Varachha – a seat held by his wife, Monali Hirpara, for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Malaviya was among those who pitched their candidature at the BJP office on Wednesday, when the process began. He lost as an AAP candidate to the BJP in the 2022 Assembly polls and, along with the other PAAS convenor Alpesh Kathiriya, joined the BJP in 2024. Monali Hirpara is a corporator in the outgoing elected body of the SMC, now under administrator-rule.

In this context, AAP’s state general secretary Manoj Sorathiya told this newspaper that the party had “not yet taken a decision on whether to repeat former corporators”. So, it remains to be seen whether the poll ring will see a husband and wife pitted against each other.