Vadodara: BJP on Tuesday announced Congress turncoat Chirag Patel as its candidate for the Khambhat assembly seat in Anand district for which elections will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls on May 7.
Last month Patel joined the ruling BJP in the presence of state BJP chief C R Paatil. A first-time MLA from Khambhat, Patel resigned as a member of the state assembly on December 14, 2023, citing disappointment with the working style of Congress leadership and alleging groupism in the party’s state unit.
In December 2022 Gujarat assembly polls, Patel had defeated BJP’s Mayur Raval by a narrow margin of less than 4,000 votes.Interestingly, Patel’s victory in Khambhat was the only face saver for the Congress in 2022 as the BJP had never faced defeat in the coastal town since 1990. It was after a gap of 32 years that Congress had won the assembly seat considered to be a saffron bastion.
Of the seven assembly constituencies falling in Anand district, Congress’ tally had reduced to two in the last elections after it retained Anklav and won Khambhat.
Meanwhile, BJP’s sitting MP Mitesh Patel alias Bakabhai and Congress’s Anklav MLA Amit Chavda, who is contesting for the Anand Lok Sabha seat, have begun campaigning as the countdown for the polls began.
Last month Patel joined the ruling BJP in the presence of state BJP chief C R Paatil. A first-time MLA from Khambhat, Patel resigned as a member of the state assembly on December 14, 2023, citing disappointment with the working style of Congress leadership and alleging groupism in the party’s state unit.
In December 2022 Gujarat assembly polls, Patel had defeated BJP’s Mayur Raval by a narrow margin of less than 4,000 votes.Interestingly, Patel’s victory in Khambhat was the only face saver for the Congress in 2022 as the BJP had never faced defeat in the coastal town since 1990. It was after a gap of 32 years that Congress had won the assembly seat considered to be a saffron bastion.
Of the seven assembly constituencies falling in Anand district, Congress’ tally had reduced to two in the last elections after it retained Anklav and won Khambhat.
Meanwhile, BJP’s sitting MP Mitesh Patel alias Bakabhai and Congress’s Anklav MLA Amit Chavda, who is contesting for the Anand Lok Sabha seat, have begun campaigning as the countdown for the polls began.
We also published the following articles recently