Rajkot: 12 rebel Congress members of district panchayat set to join BJP

The rebel group led by Nilesh Virani said that they would formally join the BJP at the Vijay Sankalp Sammelan to be presided over by Rupala, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare and Prabhu, Union Commerce Minister

Of the 12 rebels, eight had extended their support to Kunvarji Bavaliya when the latter was fighting Jasdan Assembly bypoll in December last year after he had defected to the BJP.

AROUND A YEAR after they rebelled against Congress, 12 sitting members of Rajkot district panchayat announced that they were set to join the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Parsottam Rupala and Suresh Prabhu at a party event in the city on Tuesday.

The rebel group led by Nilesh Virani said that they would formally join the BJP at the Vijay Sankalp Sammelan to be presided over by Rupala, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Prabhu, Union Commerce Minister.

“Congress is the party which sacrifices its members for protecting the interest of a few. During tenure as the president of Rajkot district panchayat, my condition was like the tongue caged by 32 teeth. Therefore, we 12 have decided to join forces with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and become members of the BJP,” Virani, who served as the president of the Rajkot district panchayat from 2015 to June last year told The Indian Express.

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A rebellion had broken out in the Congress-ruled panchayat body after Virani completed his two-and-a-half-year long tenure as its president and Congress proposed name of Alpa Khatariya as her successor. The ruling Congress has 34 members in the 36-member general board of the district panchayat. Out of them, 19 had rebelled against Alpa Khatariya and her husband Arjun Khatariya, the chairman of the executive committee of the panchayat body. However, seven of them had eventually toed the party line and had thus cleared the way for Alpa’s election as president. But the 12 led by Virani have remained estranged till date even as Congress has initiated process seeking their disqualification.

Of the 12 rebels, eight had extended their support to Kunvarji Bavaliya when the latter was fighting Jasdan Assembly bypoll in December last year after he had defected to the BJP. Of the 12, four are Patidars while the rest are Kolis, an OBC community.

The 12 members include Virani (from Sardhar seat in Rajkot taluka,) Rekha Patoliya from Shivrajgadh seat in Gondal taluka, Bhanu Tarpada from Padadhari seat in Padadhari taluka, Kishor Padariya from Pedhla seat in Jetpur taluka, Natha Makwana from Kuvadva seat in Rajkot taluka, Magan Metaliya from Bhadla seat in Jasdan taluka, Rani Sorani from Anandpar seat in Rajkot taluka, Hetal Gohel from Atkot seat in Jasdan taluka, Hansa Bhojani from Shivrajpur in Jasdan taluka, Vaji Sakariya from Kamlapur in Jasdan taluka, Vali Talavadiya from Bhadli seat in Jasdan taluka and Chatur Rajapara from Vinchhiya taluka.