Gujarat: BJP MLA Quits Party Alleging Country Not Run According To Constitution

Mahesh Vasava, the MLA from Dediapada in Gujarat's Narmada district and former national president of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, concluding his nine-month stint with the saffron party. He is the son of veteran tribal leader Chhotu Vasava.

Speaking to the media, Mahesh Vasava said, “I joined the BJP with the hope that development work in my constituency would be carried out, but even my recommendations were ignored. I actively worked during the Lok Sabha elections and campaigned for the party’s candidate and sitting MP, Mansukh Vasava, who eventually won.

However, after the results, I was neither invited to any party workers' meetings nor to any public gatherings. The party leadership deliberately sidelined me. I will now work for the BTP, and in the coming days, a political earthquake is imminent, with Bharuch as its epicentre.”

Mahesh Vasava, along with Mahesh Patel, a former Congress MLA from Palanpur in Banaskantha (2017), had joined the BJP on March 11, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The two leaders, accompanied by over 2,000 supporters, formally joined the party at the Kamalam office in Gandhinagar, where they were welcomed by state BJP president C.R. Paatil.

After joining the BJP, Mahesh Vasava praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his statement to the media. He remarked, "The BJP has accomplished in the last decade what Congress failed to do for a long time."

In his resignation letter addressed to Paatil, Mahesh Vasava expressed, "I salute Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar on his birthday, the architect of the Indian Constitution. Today, however, we see that India is not being governed by the Constitution. I want to emphasize that Adivasis, Dalits, OBCs, Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs must unite and stand together in the fight against the ideology of RSS and BJP. This is a long battle, and for it to succeed, we must remain united and refrain from internal conflicts." A copy of the letter is with The Indian Express.

Mahesh Vasava told the media, "I joined the BJP with the hope that public welfare projects for my areas would be addressed, but nothing was done, even based on my recommendations. I actively worked during the Lok Sabha elections, campaigning for party candidate and sitting MP Mansukh Vasava, and he won. However, after the election results, the party leaders never invited me to any workers’ or public meetings. They have deliberately distanced themselves from me. I will now work for the BTP, and in the coming days, a political earthquake will occur, with Bharuch at its epicenter."

Notably, Mahesh Vasava’s father was a seven-time MLA from the Jhagadia Assembly seat in Bharuch district. Mahesh himself was elected from the Dediapada seat in both 2002 and 2017. In the 2022 elections, his close associate Chaitar Vasava contested on an AAP ticket and secured a victory.