A file photo of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel (L) and BJP National President JP Nadda during a party event in Gandhinagar. (Photo | PTI)
AHMEDABAD: After winning 156 seats in assembly elections in December last year, the BJP is now witnessing the resignations of city and district chiefs one after another. On Wednesday, four district and city chiefs resigned. Presidents of Mehsana, Botad, Bhavnagar district and Bhavnagar city resigned.
According to sources, this chief was asked to resign due to complaints and an internal dispute. A press release issued by BJP said: “The presidents of Mehsana, Botad, Bhavnagar district, and Bhavnagar city have voluntarily resigned due to personal reasons, indicating an inability to handle the responsibility, so the organisation body of Mehsana, Botad, Bhavnagar district, and Bhavnagar city has been dissolved.”
Earlier this month, the presidents of districts of Banaskantha, Devbhumi Dwarka, Amreli, Surendranagar, Vadodara and Kheda were changed.
BJP stated in the press release that they are the functionaries who were unable to accept the responsibility due to personal reasons. According to sources close to the party, the city and district presidents who resigned did not do so voluntarily; instead, they were asked to do so by the party after receiving complaints from local organisations. While some of them were also allegedly engaged in anti-party activity during the assembly elections so they were asked to resign, a source said.
“Resignations have been taken in some places because the party promised to give positions to some angry leaders who were willing to leave the party during the assembly elections,” a source said. It is worth noting that the Gujarat BJP appointed former MLA Satish Patel as Vadodara president, despite being reportedly in a rebellious mood ahead of the assembly elections after the party denied him a ticket.
BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas told the media that “many presidents have been elected as MLAs so that they can do their work better as people’s representatives, and they want to stay among the people, whereas the BJP’s district president’s responsibility is full-time, and the city/district organisation is constantly working. As a result, it is difficult to work both positions, and those who felt they needed to devote more time as public representatives have resigned.”
