AHMEDABAD: In a jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party in Gujarat, its MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned as a member of the state legislative assembly and primary membership of the party on Wednesday, claiming AAP was not the right platform to serve people.
After tendering his resignation as MLA, the leader who also goes by the name Bhupat Bhayani, told reporters that he has also resigned as a worker of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP and will join the ruling BJP soon.
"I was a BJP worker and will remain a BJP worker for life; I have worked for the BJP for 22 years and have never been suspended from the party." I want to work on development for the people and my constituency. As a result, I've quit," he continued.
Bhayani, who represented Visavadar seat in Junagadh district, handed over his resignation to Gujarat assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary in Gandhinagar in the morning, an official said.
"Moreover, I did not like to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is our pride and made India proud across the world," said Bhayani, who served as the sarpanch of Bhesan village in Junagadh before joining AAP ahead of state polls last year.
"I will be joining the BJP soon because I originally belonged to that party and worked for it for nearly 22 years before becoming the MLA. I will contest the by-poll if the central leadership wishes so. I was not under any pressure to quit (as claimed by AAP leaders)," he said.
In his resignation letter, Bhayani said he was resigning as an MLA, but did not mention any reason in it behind the decision.
"The speaker has accepted Bhayani's resignation," Gujarat assembly secretary DM Patel said.
Bhayani was one of the five MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) elected in the last year's state polls, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won with a thumping majority by bagging 156 seats in the 182-member assembly.
It was the first time that AAP won in the assembly polls in Gujarat.
Following Bhayani's resignation, Aam Aadmi Party state president Isudan Gadhvi has slammed the BJP saying “BJP is attempting to break AAP MLAs,The BJP is terrified of the AAP. Every week, one MLA is offered or threatened by the BJP. I can assure you that the four MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party are strongly united. The BJP leaders are not interested in working; they only want to destabilize the AAP.”
Isudan Gadhvi told the journalists at the state office that he wants the people of Visavadar to teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha.
“Even though the BJP has 156 MLAs, things like fake syrup, false tolls, and fake government offices are happening all over Gujarat. I sincerely apologize to the people of Visavadar and guarantee them that this will not happen again.” He said
Bhayani previously hinted at leaving the party and joining the BJP in December of last year, but soon after, he held a public assembly in his hometown of Junagadh district to "clarify" that he was not leaving.
Visavadar seat of Saurashtra zone, is considered to be the traditional seat of former Chief Minister of the state Keshubhai Patel. After Keshubhai, Harshad Ribadia was elected MLA twice on a Congress ticket. Before the last elections, he had left Congress and joined BJP, but AAP candidate Bhupat Bhayani defeated him by roughly 7,000 votes. Bhayani is a former BJP member who joined the Aam Aadmi Party two years ago. He formerly worked as a Sarpanch.
(With inputs from PTI)