4 min readSuratDec 26, 2023 12:28 AM IST
First published on: Dec 25, 2023 at 05:39 PM IST
Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) Councillor Dharmendra Vavliya has, for the second time, threatened to quit the BJP and said he would not attend any of the party programmes until the issues raised by him are resolved.
Through a Facebook video post in Hindi, Vavliya, who switched over from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the BJP in April, said, “I have raised my issues to the state and Surat district BJP general secretaries and personal assistant of home minister and state education minister, but no actions have been taken to date.”
“For the past month, I have been regularly visiting Umra police station in Surat city to follow up on getting an offence registered in a cheque bounce case. Someone has defaulted payment of Rs 7 lakhs in a business association with me, and I have contacted the police to register an offence. On my frequent visits to the police station, they made different excuses, and to date, no offence has been registered,” he said.
“Apart from this, my father got admitted to the hospital due to illness, and as an elected municipal councillor, I get medical expenses from the SMC. Of Rs 90,000, which I am liable to get from the SMC, I got only 15 per cent. The SMC authorities told me that they lacked funds and the remaining amount would be handed over once they had it,” he added.
“My third issue is that I have applied for an education loan for my daughter who wants to pursue a medical degree abroad. I have made representations to Surat Kamrej MLA and state education minister Praful Panseriya. I even went to Gandhinagar and approached the minister’s personal secretary but nothing has been done,” he said.
Vavliya said in the video, “All these three works are mine, and if I am facing such troubles, how much do normal citizens have to suffer? I joined the BJP six months ago, attracted to the working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I admired the state BJP president C R Paatil, who, in his public speeches, regularly stated that government officials should not harass or make the BJP worker or leader suffer.”
Talking to the Indian Express, Vavliya said, “I have taken my personal issues on social media, as I am saddened and pained. If I had approached the government offices for works of public, what would happen? There are some issues of residential societies in my ward that the SMC does not address, and despite my regular reminders, the officials don’t cooperate with us. I want to appeal to state BJP president C R Paatil to get all my three issues resolved.”
He added, “I received a call from my fellow councillor friend today that his issues had been sent to the party leaders and he was assured that all those would be addressed soon. I hope that all my work also gets done soon.”
In April 2023, six SMC AAP councillors – Ashok Dhami (Housing Project), Kiran Khokhani (Social Welfare and Recreational Cultural Committee), Ghanshyam Makwana (Light and Fire Committee), Patel Nirali (Health Committee), Dharmendra Vavliya (Transport Mobility Committee) and Advocate Swati Kayda (Law Committee) – resigned from the AAP and joined BJP in the presence of Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi and Education Minister Praful Panseriya at Shri Kamalam, the party’s headquarters in Surat.
On September 12, Vavliya uploaded a Facebook post and threatened to leave with BJP with three other defectors from the AAP. He raised issues related to development works in his ward. However, he backed off after receiving assurances from the party leadership.
In April 2023, six SMC AAP councillors resigned from the AAP and joined BJP in the presence of Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi and Education Minister Praful Panseriya at Shri Kamalam, the party’s headquarters in Surat. (File photo) 
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