AHMEDABAD: Three BJP MLAs from Gujarat's Vadodara boycotted a key coordination meeting on Saturday, after they wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, accusing officers of stalling development works in their district.
Karjan MLA Akshay Patel, Padra MLA Chaitanyasinh Jhala and Savli MLA Ketan Inamdar skipped the Vadodara District Coordination Committee meeting on January 17. Meanwhile, a separate meeting took place between Dabhoi MLA Shailesh Mehta and Vadodara MP Hemang Joshi.
The boycott followed closely on the heels of the letter written by all MLAs of the district to the Chief Minister, complaining that officers were “not working” and raising serious questions about the “mentality” of the administrative department. The boycott has fuelled speculation about internal alignments and parallel negotiations.
Savli MLA Ketan Inamdar made his position unambiguously clear. Speaking to local media, he said he would not attend District Coordination Committee meetings until pending development works were completed. He said the decision was taken after considering the attitude of the administrative department.
Questioning the very purpose of the meeting, Inamdar said that if the coordination meeting was so important, then why were earlier sanctioned works not being completed. He remarked that there was no logic in asking “one question at a time in coordination meetings and then taking the answers home,” underlining his frustration with what he described as a non-responsive system.
Karjan MLA Akshay Patel was also absent from the meeting. When contacted by local media, he explained over the phone that he was outside Vadodara city and therefore could not attend the meeting.
Padra MLA Chaitanyasinh Jhala too skipped the coordination meeting. When contacted, he said he was unable to attend due to some local work. Despite the differing explanations, the absence of three MLAs from the very first coordination meeting after the letter to the Chief Minister quickly became the centre of political discussion in the district.
In contrast, MLAs from Waghodia assembly constituency Dharmendrasinh Vaghela and Keyur Rokadiya were present at the coordination meeting, arriving at the last moment.
When asked about the reported boycott, Dabhoi MLA Shailesh Mehta said, “I have no knowledge about the boycott.”
His statement came even as political circles buzzed with speculation that the growing confrontation between MLAs and officers could directly impact the pace of development works in Vadodara district.
The episode has also revived memories of an earlier flashpoint. After the 2017 Assembly elections, three MLAs had convened a meeting at the Circuit House and complained that development works were not being carried out, indicating that friction between representatives and administration in Vadodara is not entirely new.
The unfolding situation in Vadodara district has evolved from an administrative grievance into a politically sensitive standoff one that could test both governance mechanisms and party discipline in the days ahead.