Surat (Gujarat): In a setback to Arvind Kejriwal's party, at least five AAP Corporators in Surat jumped ship and joined BJP on Friday. In February 2021, AAP had surprised both the BJP and Congress by winning 27 of the 120 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections.
The turncoats include Bhavna Chimanbhai Solanki (ward 2), Rita Keur Kakadia (ward 3), Vipul Dhirubhai Mowlia (ward 16), Jyotika Vinod Lathia (ward 8), and Manisha Jagadbhai (Ward 5). The five joined the BJP in Gandhinagar in the presence of the general secretary of the BJP in Gujarat, Pradipsinh Vaghela.
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To mention, the Aam Aadmi Party had benefited from the differences between the convener of the Patidar Reserve Movement Committee and Congress on the issue of giving tickets before the Surat Municipal Corporation elections. The Anamat Andolan Samiti was not in favour of the BJP on the reservation issue and was annoyed with Congress on the issue of giving tickets.
So it became clear that people in the Patidar area were angry with both the BJP and Congress. They chose AAP with as many as 22 corporators of the party from the Patidar Samaj. Now, however, four of the five defectors are Patidars while the fifth is a woman from the Dalit community.
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Reacting to it, AAP state president Gopal Italia said "the operation was carried out by the men of BJP state president CR Patil". "BJP is considering AAP as its main rival in Gujarat. If five leaves fall, the tree does not fall," he said.
Interestingly, when 27 seats AAP had managed last year was then described by the BJP state president, CR Patil as "iron nail in a gold plate". While BJP state general secretary Vaghela said they did not invite anyone but "those who have lost their way are welcome if they come here".
