Anand: Fourteen councillors of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Borsad nagarpalika revolted against the party whip and voted in support of a no-confidence motion against its own palika president Arti Patel.
The Borsad nagarpalika (civic body) has 36 councillors. In the 2021 elections, for the first time the BJP won the palika with 20 councillors, capturing the Congress fort.
The rest of the councillors consisted of 9 Independents, 6 from the Congress and one from the AAP. It lasted hardly one and a half years, during which not a single development work could take place, alleged rebel BJP councillor Apeksha Mahida.
She and 13 other BJP councillors with support of the Independents, Congress and AAP councillors moved a no-confidence motion against the palika president and passed it with 25 votes. Only five BJP councillors voted against the motion, supporting the president.
Her allegation is that president Arti Patel was not taking party councillors into confidence while taking up development projects, nor was she taking orders from the party leadership, because of which the government's grant money remained unused for one and a half years.
That is why she and the others voted against Patel, she said, adding that even if the party suspends them, they will stick with the party.
The palika's vice president Ranjitsinh Parmar told IANS:
"Our own colleagues have betrayed us, now it is for the party to take a call, whether to suspend them from the party, or get a new president elected with their support."
The latest rebellion by the BJP members comes barely two months before the state assembly elections likely to be held in December. The BJP, in power since last 27 years, is battling a strong anti-incumbency wave.
The emergence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also making the poll-battle in Gujarat tougher for the ruling party.
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