Gujarat BJP sees differences over candidates' selection in some seats

Differences have cropped up among BJP workers over the selection of candidates in some Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat even as senior party leaders have sought to address their concerns to maintain their grip over the stateThe Congress however claimed the internal differences could hamper the BJPs bid to repeat a clean sweep and win all 26 seats in the state for the third time in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024With differences over the selection of candidates in seats such as Amreli Rajkot Sabarkantha Surendranagar and Vadodara the BJP has been making every effort to resolve them by holding meetings with the disgruntled membersOn Saturday Kshatriya community leader Raj Shekhawat resigned from the BJP in protest against Union minister and Rajkot candidate for Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Parshottam Rupalas remarks wherein he claimed that several Rajput rulers had collaborated with the BritishAsserting that the community was being neglected by the BJP in ticket distribution Shekhawat said The party leadership has not taken any action against him Rupala Therefore I am resigning from the primary membership of the partyThe community members have also held protests in different parts of the state over Rupalas remarks made at a public function in Rajkot for which he has apologisedThe Karni Sena has threatened to intensify its stir across Gujarat urging the BJP to withdraw Rupalas candidature or face defeatEven as the BJP grapples to pacify the Kshatriya community members two groups in the party clashed on Saturday night over the selection of Bharat Sutariya as the candidate from Amreli Lok Sabha seatSupporters of incumbent MP Naran Kachhadiya have apparently been unhappy over the partys decision to field Sutariya from AmreliOn Saturday night former state cabinet minister Bhupendra Chudasama had rushed to Amreli for a meeting organised to resolve the issue of differences over Sutariyas candidature but later some of the party workers clashedChudasama has asserted that Sutariya will continue to be the BJPs candidate from Amreli There is no discontentSutariya will remain the BJPs candidate he told reportersIn Vadodara an internal opposition against twoterm sitting MP Ranjan Bhatt has led her to withdraw her candidature The BJP subsequently declared Hemang Joshi as its candidate for Vadodara In 2014 Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the parliamentary election from Vadodara before giving up the seat for VaranasiOn March 26 a large number of BJP workers and supporters of local leader Bhikhaji Thakor gathered outside the party office in Modasa town of Arvalli district to protest against the decision to field Shobhna Baraiya the wife of former Congress MLA Mahendrasinh Baraiya from the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat after Thakor withdrew from the race It took several rounds of meetings with the partys high command both in Arvalli and the state capital Gandhinagar to appease themBJPs Himmatnagar taluka panchayat member Jitendrasinh Jhala wrote an open letter opposing Shobhna Baraiyas candidatureWhat I said is that the party should not offer tickets to any woman who is not a member of its womens wing She Shobhna is not associated with the party Her husband joined the BJP but she is not a party member Jhala claimedShobhna Baraiya however dismissed the claims saying I am getting the support and trust of the publicMy husband joined the BJP along with 5000 workers and I am also a part of Prime Minister Modi sahebs ideology and that is the reason why Modi saheb gave me his blessingsIn Surendranagar seat also some BJP workers have opposed the candidature of Chandu Shihora who has replaced sitting MP Mahendra MunjparaShihora a former Congressman who belongs to the Chunvalia Koli subcaste is facing resistance within the party from Talpada Koli community members who want him to be replaced with a candidate from their subcasteHe should withdraw his candidature If it does not happen we will vote against the BJP said Soma Patel the former Congress MP who is now with the BJPGujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi claimed that differences within the BJP over the selection of candidates is a result of the saffron party ignoring its dedicated workers at the cost of leaders imported from other parties and given plum postsThe discontent has become obvious in some seats but it remains visible in many other seats and will impact the BJPs efforts to repeat its effort to win all 26 seats in the state he saidThe tug of war among the dedicated party workers opportunists and imported leaders has only harmed the voters who reposed faith in the party but got nothing in return he claimedAll 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will witness polling in a single phase on May 7This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content 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