Vadodara BJP MP Ranjan Bhatt withdraws from 2024 Lok Sabha poll race amid dissent in local unit

The decision comes days after former national vice president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha Dr Jyoti Pandya was suspended after she rebelled against Bhatt’s candidature and alleged that the MP had been “inefficient” in her ten-year tenure and questioned the flow of “development funds” meant for the city. Even as her supporters thronged to her residence on Saturday the elected representatives of the BJP in Vadodara and the office bearers of the city and district unit remained conspicuous by their absence.

Asked if the party had directed her to voluntarily back off due to the ongoing unrest in Vadodara, the two-time MP said, “The party had given me the ticket for the third term; they did not deny me the chance to contest so why would they ask me to withdraw? I am indebted to (Narendra) Modi saheb for giving me two terms as MP to work with him and for Vadodara…”

Bhatt added that she has made up her mind to pull out of the election race and will ask the party to nominate another candidate. “Whoever will be the next Vadodara MP will work for the development of the constituency. I have worked with full commitment for the last ten years in my capacity as an MP. Now, the party can decide who should be the next candidate as it was on my own that I made this decision.”

Speaking about the ongoing campaign against her, Ranjan Bhatt said, “Since my name was declared as the Vadodara candidate, whoever has been running it (the anti-Bhatt campaign), has been making allegations…They are making allegations that my son has a mall in Australia. He doesn’t even own a shop. I have some self-respect and so I wanted to put an end to these false allegations as something new will keep coming up until I contest the elections…. Despite all that, my entire team of BJP leaders, my party workers as well as the intellectuals of the city or the voters – everyone has been with me in the karyakarta sammelans that we have been holding every day. But there are false narratives created against me to malign my name… I do not care about the Congress putting up posters as I am strong enough alone to thwart them, but I do not need to contest an election to prove that.”

On Wednesday, posters came up in two parts of the city with slogans against the BJP and Bhatt. Within hours, the Vadodara police arrested four people, including two Congress workers, for putting up the banners overnight.

Ranjan Bhatt first won the October 2014 bypoll from Vadodara when Prime Minister Narendra Modi vacated the constituency, which he had won by a record margin of 5.7 lakh votes, in favour of Varanasi. In the 2019 general elections, she won the seat by a margin of 5.89 lakh votes (72.22%). The former deputy mayor and former corporator of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Bhatt’s nomination had triggered trouble in the city unit which was expecting a change of candidate from the ‘safe seat’.