The BJP candidates in several seats in the April 26 local body elections will not only face candidates from opposition parties such as Congress and AAP but also their former party colleagues who are fighting the polls as independents after being denied tickets by the saffron party.
The BJP has suspended all those rebel candidates from the party for six years.
In Navsari, BJP president Bhuralal Shah suspended 10 workers who were holding various posts on Thursday for contesting as independent candidates in the Navsari district Panchayat, Taluka Panchayat, and Navsari Municipal Corporation elections.
Navsari is among the nine new municipal corporations going to polls for the first time where the BJP has already won two seats uncontested.
Rebel candidates are also creating trouble for the BJP in Surat, Tapi, Chhota Udepur and Dahod districts. In Surat district, four organisational leaders filed nominations as independents while in Tapi district three leaders, after being denied tickets, are now fighting as independents.
The rebel candidates in Navsari are Dipak Patel who is contesting the municipality seat, Niral Patel and Preeti Amit and Bhusan Patil from the NMC seats, the rest contesting from seats in Vejalpore, Manekpur, Jalalpore taluka panchayat and others.
In the case of Surat Municipal Corporation, Dhrumil Panchal, a former party member, is contesting as an independent from ward no 30 while Sharmishtaben Variya, former BJP member, is contesting as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from ward no 1.
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Surat city BJP president Paresh Patel said, “We will not tolerate any activity that damages the party by any member or leader. So we have suspended all rebel candidates. Such strict actions will be a warning to the remaining party leaders and members.”
In Surat district, 17 party workers in Kadodara resigned in support of the four organisational leaders suspended by the district leadership for contesting as independents. These former BJP leaders are Bhola Bharwad, Deputy sarpanch of Chalthan village, Rajubhai Bharwad, president, Bakshipanch Morcha, , Krunal Raghwani, BJP general secretary, youth wing and Pratap Prajapati, vice president, Bakshipanch Morcha, all from Kadodara.
Sources said that Bhola Bharwad had sought a ticket to contest the Kadodara Nagar Palika election, but when his name did not appear on the final list on April 10, he staged a protest at the party headquarters. Later, Bhola along with three others filed nominations as independents from the Kadodara municipality.
Bhola Bharwad said, “I was deputy sarpanch of Chalthan village in Surat district and it got merged to Kadodara Nagar Palika, last year. I have been working for the BJP since long and have supported the party during its critical times. I had appealed to the party higher ups to give me a ticket from ward 6 of Kadodara Nagar palika. This is the first time I have asked something from the party. We have made a panel of four candidates and we have filed nomination forms from ward no. 6. The party has suspended me for six years. Now our direct fight will be with BJP, not with Congress.”
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Similarly, Tapi district president Suraj Vasava suspended Arjun Chaudhary (former vice president of Tapi district Panchayat), Jasu Gamit (former president of Vyara Taluka Panchayat), and Sharmila Gamit (former member of Vyara Taluka Panchayat) after they filed nominations as independents.
In Bodeli in Chhota Udepur district, the BJP suspended former APMC chairman Hemrajsinh Maharaul for six years for rebelling against the party mandate and filing nominations from the Panaj seat of Bodeli taluka panchayat. Maharaul’s wife is also a former president of Bodeli Taluka Panchayat.
In Dahod district, the BJP suspended two party leaders for six years, based on a notice issued by District BJP President Snehal Dhariya for a period of five years. The suspended leaders include Anita Machhar and Parsinh Garasiya. While Machhar had filed her independent nomination from the Munkhosla seat in Jhalod taluka panchayat, Garasiya had backed the independent nomination of his wife Sonal Garasiya from the Bambhela seat of Jhalod taluka.
In Vadodara District, the BJP suspended 11 leaders for a period of five years. This includes BJP leader Nayana Parmar and her husband Raju Parmar from Por. Nayana Parmar has filed her nomination against BJP candidate Ankita Parmar, who is a social media influencer and also the former Taluka Panchayat President. The other leaders include Narsinh Patel, Vishal Parikh, Gyansaran Patel, Jayesh Rabari, Aakash Patel, Nilesh Parmar, Sameer Patel, Salim Ghanchi and Rakesh Patel. The leaders have been suspended for filing nominations in the local body polls against party candidates.
(With inputs from Aditi Raja in Vadodara)
