Gujarat BJP: Internal rifts out in open, rebels slam 'Congress culture'

Recently, there was a call for aspirants for 41 district and city presidents in 33 districts and eight cities. Around 1,300 local leaders stepped forward to vie for the posts, creating quite a stir.

The demand has primarily come from former MLAs and other local leaders of the BJP who lost Assembly and Lok Sabha poll tickets to Congress turncoats in 2022 and 2024, respectively. Licking their wounds over the 'humiliation', they feel local body election tickets will offer them some compensation.

Also read: Gujarat BJP infighting continues beyond polls; leaders face ‘sabotage’ charges

'Not strife, but competition'

The leadership, however, has denied any rift in the party. According to BJP Gujarat president CR Patil, the selection process was earlier expected to culminate before Uttarayan (January 14) but the party leadership subsequently decided to take more time.

Speaking to The Federal, Patil said: "I would not say it's internal strife but more of a competition for leadership roles among local leaders. This is not uncommon in a party that believes in constant reshuffles in its drive to bring out new leaders.”

He also said that they will soon announce the new district presidents.

Dissent out in the open

Contrary to the claims made by the BJP leadership, the internal rifts continue to trouble the party.

The latest flashpoint emerged at the Kheda district cooperative union election when former BJP MLA Kesarisinh Solanki contested as an independent candidate and defeated the BJP candidate by a massive margin.

The BJP sent a show-cause notice to Solanki.

Also read: Gujarat BJP leader, one of party’s key faces in tribal belt, shot dead

'All is fair'

The former BJP MLA shot back on social media, saying, “How is this fair that a party that always asked its cadres and leaders to be disciplined and loyal to the party chooses an outsider as a candidate? The selection process of the BJP is certainly hypocritical.”

“If you (BJP) have the guts, contest the Matar district panchayat seat against me,” he added.

Solanki won the Matar Assembly seat in 2014 that was mandated after sitting BJP MLA Devusinh Chauhan won the Lok Sabha seat from Kheda. Thereafter, Solanki retained the seat in the 2017 state polls. However, in the 2022 state polls, he did not get the party ticket to contest, as BJP chose Kalpeshbhai Parmar, a Congress turncoat and a cooperative leader at Matar.

Infighting in Surat city unit

Infighting within the Surat city unit also came to the fore during the filing of forms on January 4, 2024, when seventeen candidates came forward to fill their form for the district president post.

The president of BJP’s SC Morcha, Rajesh Kataria, who joined the party from RSS, voiced his anger after his nomination was rejected without explanation. He said the process was unfair to those who have been loyal to the party.

“Holding a leadership position in the BJP was once considered a responsibility but now it’s become an opportunity for personal gains. We did not just take Congress leaders, we have taken the Congress’s political culture as well. This is dangerous for the BJP,” said Kataria, who lost out on getting a local poll ticket in 2019 thanks to a Congress turncoat.

Noticeably, after the 2017 assembly results came as a shocker for the BJP who bagged 99 seats, its lowest in the history of Gujarat’s electoral politics, the party has been aggressively co-opting Congress MLAs and local leaders.

Also read: A year after sweeping win, internal rife hits Gujarat BJP hard

'Congress culture'

Gautam Sah, a political analyst and professor based in Ahmedabad, told The Federal: “Post 2017 state polls, 20 MLAs and more than 100 local leaders of Congress have shifted to the BJP. It’s a strategy that led to BJP’s massive win in the 2019 local polls, cooperative polls and the historic 2022 state polls.”

Further, he said that the move completely ousted the Congress from its stronghold in rural areas and cooperatives, where party turncoats who had joined the BJP won the seats for the saffron party.

Sah pointed out, “But the disquiet within BJP began in 2019, when the party not only fielded three turncoat MLAs in the by-polls but rewarded them with ministerial berths in the Vijay Rupani Cabinet.”

However, he said that if the BJP doesn’t handle the situation soon it can certainly backfire for the party, as the local polls are imminent.

Infighting in any party isn't good with an election around the corner, he said. A disgruntled leader may campaign against the candidate or worse, contest as an independent to cut votes, he pointed out.

Recurring issue

A senior BJP leader from central Gujarat said on the condition of anonymity, “There were questions raised by multiple BJP leaders, who had waited for a ticket or ministerial post for years, about their political future within the party. But the BJP leadership managed to pacify them since it is a disciplined party. However, this has been repeated too many times now and the BJP leaders are feeling sidelined."

Last June, Ketan Inamdar, three-term BJP MLA from Savli and a veteran RSS member, submitted his resignation after not getting a ministerial berth in Bhupendra Patel-led government and expressing concern over Congress turncoats bagging posts that BJP leaders deserve. He also complained about the party adopting the ‘Congress culture’.

However, he later withdrew his resignation after being persuaded by the state RSS leadership.

Subsequently, a coordination meeting was called between BJP MLAs, Congress turncoats, BJP state chief and RSS state leadership at Ahmedabad in September this year. However, the closed-door meeting ended abruptly after a heated argument between RSS state leaders and the BJP leadership, including state chief CR Patil.

Erosion of BJP's values

Meanwhile, Vijay Thakkar, the state RSS spokesperson, told The Federal, “Leaders from older generations will tell you they are concerned about the erosion of BJP’s core values. They fear that the focus on personal gains is overtaking the party’s once disciplined and ideology-based culture. There has been a change in the Gujarat BJP since the change in state leadership in 2020.”

He indicated that the organisation’s dissatisfaction with CR Patil, who is the first state chief not to have an RSS or ABVP background.

According to Thakkar, the functioning of the party is not the only matter they are unhappy about.

“The BJP that once boasted of uplifting Hindus is falling back on its promises. Recently RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal held a state-wide demonstration against the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and the failure of Modi to act against it. The demonstration was joined by a handful of BJP leaders who are also RSS members. Besides that, we did not get any statement of support from the central or the state government,” he pointed out.