Resentment over candidate selection in Navsari BJP unit

  • | Thursday | 23rd November, 2017

In early 70's, the entire tribal belt of south Gujarat was considered a Congress bastion and remained that way till 1985. Sunil has filed candidature from Gandevi assembly seat as independent candidate.Kanjibhai has been with BJP from the time of Jan Sangh. The autonomous decision will impact three seats of Navsari, four in Valsad, two in Tapi district and two seats in Surat district. Surat/Navsari: The ruling BJP seems to be in midst of a revolt in Navsari district because of the ticket distribution on three of the four seats including Navsari, Gandevi and Vansda.On November 20, BJP workers took out a huge rally in Navsari demanding that party leadership announce a new face from Navsari constituency. "Mangubhai Patel, former minister, who had not demanded ticket this time said, "When the candidate is announced, such situations arise.

Surat/Navsari: The ruling BJP seems to be in midst of a revolt in Navsari district because of the ticket distribution on three of the four seats including Navsari, Gandevi and Vansda.On November 20, BJP workers took out a huge rally in Navsari demanding that party leadership announce a new face from Navsari constituency. However, the party decided to continue with the sitting MLA Piyush Desai—who had won the seat in 2012 by a margin of 15,981 votes against Arvind Patel of Congress.On the other hand, BJP veteran leader Kanjibhai Patel was highly disappointed over the choice of Naresh Patel from Gandevi seat.Following the resentment, Kanjibhai along with his son, Sunil Patel, party in-charge for Gandevi resigned from the BJP. Sunil has filed candidature from Gandevi assembly seat as independent candidate.Kanjibhai has been with BJP from the time of Jan Sangh. In early 70's, the entire tribal belt of south Gujarat was considered a Congress bastion and remained that way till 1985. He was a four term MLA from Navsari district since 1985, twice became minister and was also a Rajya Sabha MP.It is after the high of Madhavsinh Solanki's KHAM theory that BJP started to rise in the tribal belt of south Gujarat like other parts of the state. Kanjibhai and Mangubhai Patel were considered as the two pillars who worked in the tribal areas of south Gujarat and garnered votes for the party.Talking to TOI, Kanjibhai said, "If BJP still doesn't understand its mistake, they will suffer on 10 to 11 seats of south Gujarat."Patel added, "Though Gandevi is schedule tribe seat, more than 65% voters are educated. The autonomous decision will impact three seats of Navsari, four in Valsad, two in Tapi district and two seats in Surat district.""I have undergone a major liver surgery and so cannot contest the election, so my son is contesting as an independent candidate, because we want victory for our workers," he added.Add to the vows, BJP has given ticket to a relatively unknown face, Ganpat Mahla, son-in-law of former BJP MP Manibhai Chaudhary.In fact, Chaudhary had asked for Umbergaon seat for his son, Sunil Chaudhary, but the party in its place gave a seat to his son-in-law. This is one of the six seats in south Gujarat won by Chhana Chaudhary of Congress by a margin of 25,000 votes during 2012 polls.A BJP worker from Navsari talking to TOI said, "For us, it is very difficult to work for a repeated candidate who has done nothing for the constituency and Navsari town. There were better choices like Bhuralal Shah, former minister Karsan Patel and Jigish Shah. None of these local leaders were seen anywhere when Piyush Desai went to file his nomination on Tuesday."Mangubhai Patel, former minister, who had not demanded ticket this time said, "When the candidate is announced, such situations arise. However, we are sure that our workers would get down to work to ensure our once again."

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