BJP replacing two of its candidates in Gujarat sparks protest and unrest among supporters
Bhikaji Thakor from Sabarkantha has stirred up a hornet’s nest in the Lok sabha constituency.
The Meghraj town in Aravalli district observed a bandh in support of Thakor on Tuesday and the party workers in large numbers reached the BJP office in Modasa to protest necessitating strong security arrangements.
BJP has fielded Shobhna Baraiya, wife of Mahendrasinh Baraiya who is a former Congress MLA and joined BJP in August 2022.
Baraiya was nominated as the Sabarkantha candidate after Thakor took to social media and showed his “unwillingness to contest the Lok Sabha election due to personal reasons”. Another BJP candidate from Vadodara Ranjan Bhatt also said on her social media posts that she was opting out of the fight in the Lok Sabha elections due to “personal reasons.”
Controversy had erupted over Thakor whose caste identity was questioned via pamphlets in the area alleging that as opposed to being a Thakor, he was an OBC Kshatriya. The former caste belongs to a tribal community with Damor as his original surname.
Baraiya’s nomination has also irked the old BJP workers as many feel that the original party workers are being sidelined to accommodate newcomers migrating to the BJP from the Congress.
“Any political leader working on ground for some time is bound to have some followers and the candidate who was nominated earlier is the party secretary of Aravalli district,” said Yagnesh Dave, coordinator Gujarat BJP media cell. “While he himself withdrew his name from the election, his followers did not like it
