Shake-up in BJP stronghold: Mass resignations in Jalalpore
Over 20 BJP leaders in Navsari, including those from the Koli Patel community, have resigned from organisational posts citing the "sidelining" of Jalalpore and MLA R C Patel.
As many as 20 leaders, including five newly inducted members of the BJP, have resigned from organisational posts since Friday in Navsari. The leaders who left claimed that Jalalpore was sidelined in the new organizational list, announced a few days ago. Majority of the leaders who resigned belong to the Koli Patel community and are from the Jalalpore taluka, which is represented by BJP MLA R C Patel in the state assembly. Though they have resigned from their posts, these leaders will remain party workers.
The wave of resignations started after Ashok Patel of Jalalpore Taluka, who was made vice-president of Navsari District BJP organisation, quit last Tuesday. Patel resigned after he was not given the post of district general secretary.
Those who followed him include Vijay Patel (general secretary of Bakshi Panch Morcha), Prakash Patel (general secretary of Kisan Morcha), and Jalalpore Taluka Panchayat member Chetan Patel (BJP’s district organisational secretary).
Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP’s Jalalpore President Hitesh Patel said, “We will continue to work for the party. The leaders of Jalalpore have not been given importance or space in the district BJP’s organisational body. Ashok Patel’s request for the post of general secretary of the Navsari District BJP organisation was not heard. Even the Jalalpore BJP MLA, R C Patel, who has been elected six times in a row, was not given a post in the state cabinet or the state BJP organisation. There is anger among the people and even more people are ready to resign from their post in the party.”
Navsari’s BJP president Bhuralal Shah said, “The decision for different posts of the district BJP organisation is taken by the state party chief and others. We are looking into the issue, and we are trying to convince these leaders to change their minds.”
Kamal Saiyed is a senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, providing extensive, on-the-ground coverage from Surat and the broader South Gujarat region and the Union territories of Daman, Diu & Dadra Nagar Haveli. With a reporting career at the publication spanning back to 2007, he has established himself as a high-authority voice on the industrial, social, and political pulse of one of India’s fastest-growing urban hubs.
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