Tag: CR Patil

  • Gujarat: Denied seat in Assembly polls BJP workers file independent nominations

    Express News Service

    AHMEDABAD: Admitting that more than one BJP ticket seeker has filed a nomination in spite of the party’s refusal to field them, Gujarat BJP president Chandrakanta Patil on Friday threatened adequate action against them in case they don’t withdraw their nominations within the stipulated time.

    Speaking to the media, Gujarat BJP President CR Patil pointed out that for 182 seats, as many as 4100 aspirants had sought tickets from BJP and it is only natural that that denied tickets will be unhappy. However, Patil exuded confidence that the workers will beat the frustration and gear up to work for the party.

    Underlining that three or four candidates have indeed filed their nomination papers despite the party mandate being otherwise, Patil said that if they fail to withdraw their candidature within the specified timeframe, BJP will initiate adequate action against them.

    ALSO READ | Acted on my conscience, says AAP’s ‘kidnapped’ Gujarat candidate who withdrew nomination

    The resentment against the party’s list of candidates has been raging within BJP in Gujarat since the announcement of the first list and despite efforts of the senior party leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the discontent has shown no sign of waning.

    On Thursday at least four former members of the assembly denied party diktat and filed their nominations as independent candidates.

    Allegedly ‘insulted’ over the denial of the ticket by the saffron party, the controversial strongman of Waghodia and six terms MLA Madhu Shrivastava severed his ties with the party and went on to file his nominations on Thursday.

    ALSO READ | Gujarat polls: Nadda, Union ministers, CMs to address 89 BJP rallies on Friday

    BJP had replaced Shrivastava with Ashwin Patel, much to the chagrin of Shrivastava and his supporters.

    While the top leadership of the state unit left no stone unturned to mollycoddle Shrivastava, he denied them any audience and stuck to his guns.

    Apart from Shrivastava, in Padra, two terms MLA Dinesh Patel too defied party directives and jumped into the poll fray as an independent candidate as did Mavji Desai, the former Vice Chairman of Banas Dairy and Chairman of Deesa APMC at Dhanera in North Gujarat.

    A close aide of OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, Dhavalsinh Zala also followed the same trajectory blaming intra-party factionalism for his actions.

    Defying BJP’s 75-year age criteria, Seven times MLA from Manjalpur in Vadodara, Yogesh Patel (76) too filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for the constituency on Thursday before the party formally announced its candidate for the seat.

    While the top leaders of BJP have been trying to resolve the candidate issue for Manjalpur for a long time, till the filing of the story Manjalpur remains the lone seat in Gujarat for which the BJP hasn’t formally announced its candidate. 

    AHMEDABAD: Admitting that more than one BJP ticket seeker has filed a nomination in spite of the party’s refusal to field them, Gujarat BJP president Chandrakanta Patil on Friday threatened adequate action against them in case they don’t withdraw their nominations within the stipulated time.

    Speaking to the media, Gujarat BJP President CR Patil pointed out that for 182 seats, as many as 4100 aspirants had sought tickets from BJP and it is only natural that that denied tickets will be unhappy. However, Patil exuded confidence that the workers will beat the frustration and gear up to work for the party.

    Underlining that three or four candidates have indeed filed their nomination papers despite the party mandate being otherwise, Patil said that if they fail to withdraw their candidature within the specified timeframe, BJP will initiate adequate action against them.

    ALSO READ | Acted on my conscience, says AAP’s ‘kidnapped’ Gujarat candidate who withdrew nomination

    The resentment against the party’s list of candidates has been raging within BJP in Gujarat since the announcement of the first list and despite efforts of the senior party leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the discontent has shown no sign of waning.

    On Thursday at least four former members of the assembly denied party diktat and filed their nominations as independent candidates.

    Allegedly ‘insulted’ over the denial of the ticket by the saffron party, the controversial strongman of Waghodia and six terms MLA Madhu Shrivastava severed his ties with the party and went on to file his nominations on Thursday.

    ALSO READ | Gujarat polls: Nadda, Union ministers, CMs to address 89 BJP rallies on Friday

    BJP had replaced Shrivastava with Ashwin Patel, much to the chagrin of Shrivastava and his supporters.

    While the top leadership of the state unit left no stone unturned to mollycoddle Shrivastava, he denied them any audience and stuck to his guns.

    Apart from Shrivastava, in Padra, two terms MLA Dinesh Patel too defied party directives and jumped into the poll fray as an independent candidate as did Mavji Desai, the former Vice Chairman of Banas Dairy and Chairman of Deesa APMC at Dhanera in North Gujarat.

    A close aide of OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, Dhavalsinh Zala also followed the same trajectory blaming intra-party factionalism for his actions.

    Defying BJP’s 75-year age criteria, Seven times MLA from Manjalpur in Vadodara, Yogesh Patel (76) too filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for the constituency on Thursday before the party formally announced its candidate for the seat.

    While the top leaders of BJP have been trying to resolve the candidate issue for Manjalpur for a long time, till the filing of the story Manjalpur remains the lone seat in Gujarat for which the BJP hasn’t formally announced its candidate. 

  • Gujarat BJP’s CR Patil in touch with Eknath Shinde for long time: Sources

    Express News Service

    Gujarat’s Surat may well become the centre of a political earthquake that is likely to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.

    The disgruntled rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and 21 Sena MLAs are camped at Hotel Le Meridian in Surat. Interestingly, the rooms in this hotel were booked on June 20 evening only.

    Sources said that Gujarat BJP unit CR Patil is the key person behind the rebellion of Shinde against Uddhav Thackeray.

    “Patil has been in touch with Shinde for a long time to carry out ‘Operation Lotus’ in Maharashtra. Patil who hails from Jalgaon is in touch with some of the Sena MLAs as well. These MLAs include Chimanrao Patil from Parola, and Kishor Patil from Pachora, who belong to the Maratha community. This link helped Patil to connect with Shinde and other disgruntled MLAs of Sena. It was planned ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections and Maharashtra state legislative council elections by transferring Shiv Sena votes to BJP,” said a source who requested anonymity.

    Interestingly, after the arrival of Shinde and his supporter MLAs, Patil cancelled all his scheduled meetings. He was in Ahmedabad and then he rushed to Surat. Besides, Gujarat police also deployed heavy security to the hotel where Sena MLAs are camped.

    One of the rebels Shiv Sena MLAs said that he has been promised a cabinet post in the new government. He said in the Thackeray government, he was the senior-most but was still neglected.

    A senior Shiv Sena leader said that party leaders and MLAs who are under the scanner of Central agencies encouraged Shinde to take this step against the Shiv Sena leadership and form government with BJP.

    Sources also said that Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik and former chairman of BMC standing committee Yashwant Jadhav were in Delhi to coordinate with BJP leaders and Shinde. 

    Explaining a plausible cause behind the rebellion, a source who requested anonymity “The communication gap between rural MLAs and urban MLAs of Sena increased. The power was concentrated with urban faces that annoyed rural Sena MLAs. Besides, Uddhav Thackeray was not easily approachable and accessible. During fund allocations, NCP leader Ajit Pawar dominated decision-making which did not go well with Sena MLAs.”