AHMEDABAD: Amid escalating factional tensions in Gujarat BJP, former cabinet minister Jawahar Chavda has accused the Junagarh party president of misconduct in a letter to the Prime Minister. Chavda, who previously raised serious concerns about Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in a post-election social media video, has intensified his criticism of the party’s local leadership.
In a letter on his official social media profile on Monday, the former minister made serious allegations against Junagadh party president Kirit Patel. Chavda lamented the violation of the party’s ‘one-person-one-post’ rule, stating, “Truth always prevails. This is the story of nine years of agony in Junagadh city. Our disciplined party has rules (one person, one post, three-year tenure, etc.), which should apply equally to every worker or office-bearer. But Junagadh is an exception.”
The letter further accused Patel, who has been in office for nine years, of “misusing” his position to secure multiple roles, holding three posts simultaneously as district president, bank president, and market yard president.
Chavda alleged that Patel has presided over the market yards of three talukas—Talala, Visavadar, and Junagadh—spanning two districts. “Perhaps for the first time in India, there has been such a frenzy of mutual transfers of presidencies,” he wrote, adding that “this can only happen with a knack for abusing power and a habit of scheming?”
He claimed that levies and confiscations have overrun have various departments under Patel’s influence. “Despite repeatedly raising concerns with leaders like Kanubhai Bhalala, Thakarshibhai Javia, and Madhabhai Boricha, this issue never reached you.
Somewhere, someone buried it under their watchful eye,” he wrote. Chavda said he felt compelled to make the letter public so it could reach the top leadership, accusing Patel’s “criminal negligence and corruption”.