Poster war erupts between factions in Gujarat BJP over appointment of presidents to mandals & talukas
AHMEDABAD: Factionalism has flared up within Gujarat BJP over recent appointment of president to the mandal and taluka levels.
Tensions escalated in Mehsana district, where a poster war in Kadi taluka gained traction, pitting backers of ex-Deputy CM Nitin Patel against MLA Karsan Solanki. As discord peaks in Kadi, its ripple effects threaten to engulf the district and state BJP.
The poster war erupted in Kadi following the appointment of Shailesh Thakor as Kadi Taluka BJP President and Jignesh Patel as City BJP president.
Posters congratulating Jignesh Patel, adorned with images of former Deputy CM Nitin Patel and senior BJP leaders, glaringly omitted MLA Karshan Solanki and Taluka President Shailesh Thakor. In retaliation, Thakor's supporters responded with posters including Karshan Solanki but excluding Nitin Patel. This public display of political rivalry has gripped Kadi’s main roads, fueling debates among political circles and citizens alike.
“A cold war is brewing between former Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and MLA Karshan Solanki’s factions over dominance in Kadi’s city and taluka organisations, cooperative bodies, and local governance,” sources within the BJP revealed.
This rivalry, which began during the Kadi APMC elections, has now escalated, reaching its peak within the organisational framework.
“Both leaders fiercely lobbied the district and state BJP to secure key positions for their loyalists in the city and taluka setups. As a result, the state BJP appointed Nitin Patel’s ally as the City BJP president and Solanki’s as the Taluka BJP president. However, the divide became public with a poster war erupting over congratulatory banners, exposing the factionalism within the Kadi BJP ranks,” sources said.
“During the formation of the Kadi city and taluka BJP organisations, factionalism and casteism came to the forefront,” a party leader revealed on condition of anonymity.
The leader explained that with the Patidar and Thakor communities dominating Kadi, the election of a Patidar leader as City BJP president led to demands from the Thakor faction for a Bakshi Panch community leader to head the Taluka. The situation escalated when 1,000 workers threatened to resign if the MLA’s candidate was not chosen as Taluka BJP president.
“To prevent the flames of factionalism in Kadi from spreading further, the state BJP was compelled to appoint a Thakor community leader as the Taluka BJP president to strike a balance between the two groups,” the leader claimed.
This is not the first instance of growing dissatisfaction within Gujarat BJP, Senior BJP leader and Bharuch MP Mansukh Vasava had openly opposed the appointment of Sandeep Patel as Jhagadia BJP president, signaling deepening fissures within the party. Two days ago, Vasava took to social media to voice his dissatisfaction, shedding light on the growing internal dissent and widening cracks in the party’s unity.