Who withdraws after getting a BJP Lok Sabha ticket? Meet the 2 dropouts from Gujarat

Bhikhabhai Thakor, 56, on the other hand, has had a relatively slower rise – if as steady. The former VHP leader’s 17 electoral contests in Gujarat, in his 27-year political career, have so far been from taluka till district level, and he was staring at his first national contest, from the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat – till he too announced he was withdrawing, soon after Bhatt did.

Days earlier, the BJP MLA from Savli in Vadodara, Ketan Inamdar, had announced his resignation from the Assembly. While he took it back within hours, Inamdar indicated the rancour was not gone, by saying that his ongoing third term as MLA would be his last.

In the water-tight Gujarat BJP, now in power in the state for nearly three decades, and the home state of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, such open expressions of unhappiness – if not “dissent” – are rare. For these to happen in quick succession, unheard of.

On Sunday, the BJP named new candidates for the tickets given up by Bhatt and Thakor – Hemang Yogeschandra Joshi from Vadodara, and Shobhnaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya from Sabarkantha.

Ranjan Bhatt

On Friday night, the eve of her exit from the Lok Sabha race, Bhatt addressed a workers’ meeting in Manjalpur, seen as the launch of her poll campaign. She urged workers to “offer the lotus (BJP election symbol) from Vadodara to Modi saheb”, and said every vote was for the PM, “no matter who the candidate from the constituency was”.

The next day, came the announcement by the two-time MP on social media that she was pulling out of the Vadodara race. As shocked supporters flooded her residence, a stoic Bhatt sat in the midst of them, speaking of “self-respect” and “putting an end to the daily allegations” against her. As members of her extended family arrived, she broke down.

However, local elected representatives of the BJP as well as office-bearers of its Vadodara unit, who had been with her at her campaign launch, remained noticeably absent.

Bhatt’s renomination had come as a surprise, given several names being talked out for the ticket. Insiders say Bhatt had herself suggested the name of former Vadodara mayor Bharat Dangar, who was Modi’s election agent in the 2014 Vadodara contest, and later swung the ticket for her in the bypoll.

However, the voices of opposition once Bhatt had been named came as a surprise. In fact, one of the first leaders to speak out, BJP Mahila Morcha national vice-president Jyoti Pandya – who called Bhatt an “inefficient” candidate – was promptly removed. But the allegations continued.

Bhatt, who started her career as a life insurance agent, joined the BJP in the late 1990s. Soon after, she displayed her clout when she won as a rebel candidate in the 2000 Vadodara Municipal Corporation polls, with the backing of the Janata Dal. During that stint, she famously slapped a police inspector in public over alleged bribery.

When Bhatt returned to the BJP later, she was again denied a ticket to the civic body but made deputy chairperson of the corporation’s school board. She served in the party’s women’s wing, and as state president of ‘Brahman Shakti Jagriti Manch’, finally getting a ticket to contest the civic body polls in 2010. In 2014, she became deputy mayor, replacing Seema Mohile.

Then came her famous election from the seat vacated by Modi himself, after which she also became the first woman head of the BJP Vadodara unit, replacing Dangar.

Party sources say her swift rise, helped by Dangar, trod on many toes.

This time, the resentment spilled into the open after big names were reportedly disappointed at her renomination. Most leaders in the party say that, apart from Dangar, Bhatt was seen as having the backing of Anandiben Patel – former Gujarat chief minister and current Uttar Pradesh governor, seen as the tallest woman leader of the party in Gujarat. Ironically, as per senior BJP leaders, it was Jyoti Pandya who first facilitated Bhatt’s entry into Anandiben’s inner circle.

On Saturday, with Pandya’s allegations against her leading to others accusing her of corruption, Bhatt said: “Ever since my nomination has been declared, new allegations are being made every day… My son has been accused of having set up a mall in Australia during my tenure. He does not even own a shop… I thought it is better to put an end to these daily spinning of false narratives as I have my self-respect.”

She added that it was entirely her decision, and that no one in the party asked her to withdraw. “I have done so after the thought occurred to me during my morning reflection before God.”

Bhikhabhai Thakor

A resident of Hiratimba village in Aravalli district, Thakor, who has studied till Class 10 and describes himself as a farmer, came to notice as an active VHP worker in the 1990-1997 period, when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak. In 1998, this eased his entry into the BJP, and by 2005, he had become the ‘mahamantri’ of the Sabarkantha district unit of the BJP’s OBC Morcha.

He is currently general secretary of the BJP’s Aravalli district unit and vice-chairman of the Sabarkantha District Central Cooperative Bank, as well as two other cooperatives associated with farming, and chairman of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Meghraj.

This may be his first national election, but in the area, Thakor is pretty well-known, and counts among his success campaigns to cut spending at weddings and to counter addiction. He has been deployed by the BJP not only in Gujarat during Assembly elections but also in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, given his long work at the grass-roots.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Thakor talks about working with VHP leader Pravin Togadia and former BJP MLA Haresh Bhatt. “Once you join the party, you hold no position in the VHP, though socially I still work for the cause.”

Incidentally, one source of the controversy around his candidature was the website of the Sabarkantha District Central Cooperative Bank listing his name as ‘Bhikhaji D D Damor’; Damor being a common tribal surname in Gujarat.

Allegations were made that he had adopted the surname Thakor for political convenience, as OBCs are larger in number than tribals in the Sabarkantha constituency.

Thakor told The Indian Express: “My caste is Damor but my subcaste is Hindu Thakarda. So I got this changed through the legal process from Damor to Thakor in 2018. I do not understand why people are suggesting this could be one of the reasons for my withdrawal from the race.”

He adds that his reasons are purely “personal”. “I am still actively involved in the party and will continue the work and responsibilities given to me, like awareness regarding various government schemes and ensuring these reach the beneficiaries.”