In reverse swing,BJP ‘captures’ Cong-ruled GMC

With this development,the BJP swapped the strength of the Congress,which had 18 of the total 33 members,though it might face the anti-defection law.

Gandhinagar is the newest municipal corporation whose first elections were won by the Congress last year. Congress had won two of the eight municipal corporations,the other being Junagadh,while the rest are with BJP.

The other two Congress corporators who defected to the BJP are Hansaben Modi and Subhash Pandav.

Besides these three,former general secretary of Gujarat Youth Congress Karansinh Manubha Chavda,who heads Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha,and Gandhinagar district Congress vice-president Jitendrasinh Bapusinh Chavda also joined BJP.

Rana said he quit because of the “injustice meted out to Congress colleagues” in the GMC. “Gandhinagar remains the only state capital that is not included in JNNURM projects of the Central government and this pained me a lot,” he said while laying the blame on Congress. “This is despite the fact that I had met Rahul Gandhi with a request to include Gandhinagar under JNNURM,” he added.

“One more reason for joining BJP is that I have seen the development of Gujarat under Chief Minister Narendra Modi,” said Rana,who had been threatening to join BJP for some time now.

Asked if this would invoke the anti-defection law,BJP spokesman I K Jadeja replied in the negative. “Rana is the mayor of Gandhinagar and he will remain so even after joining the BJP,” he said.

GMC has 33 members,of whom 18 were from Congress and 15 from the BJP. The numbers now stand reversed.

State Congress president Arjun Modhwadia said,“The Congress remains in majority in the GMC and will continue to be so. If any of its members defy the party mandate,they will lose their membership of the Corporation.” He declined to comment on the JNNURM issue raised by Rana.