The streak of Gujarat leaders resigning from their respective parties and joining BJP goes on. With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in touching distance, reports of veteran Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia leaving his party and joining BJP were afolat.

However, hours later, Modhwadia himself refuted the claims, clarifying his stance on X.

મારા કોઈ પણ ખુલાસા વિના વિવિધ મીડિયા ચેનલો દ્વારા મારી ભાજપમાં જોડાઈ રહ્યાની વાતો થઈ રહી છે, જેનો કોઈ આધાર નથી.

હું કોંગ્રેસ માં છું અને પક્ષનો ચૂંટાયેલ ધારાસભ્ય છું.

— Arjun Modhwadia (@arjunmodhwadia) January 24, 2024

Hailing from the Porbandar constituency, Modhwadia joined the Congress in 1997 and was a former president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC).

From 2004 to 2007, he served as the leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was re-elected in 2007 and assumed roles as the chairman of the media committee and Chief Spokesperson of GPCC from 2008 to 2009. In March 2011, he became the 27th president of GPCC.

However, he stepped down from the position of GPCC president on December 20, 2012, after facing a defeat. Despite losing the assembly election in 2017 to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Babu Bokhiria, he made a successful comeback in the 2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election.

Abandoning the ship

Earlier this month, Congress MLA CJ Chavda, elected from the Vijapur constituency, submitted his resignation and was believed to join the BJP.

With Chavda’s resignation, the number of seats the Congress had in the assembly decreased to 15 for Gujarat.

In December 2023, Chirag Patel, an MLA from Khambhat of the Indian National Congress (INC), also resigned.

Not only Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also seen its prominent leaders leaving for the ruling party.

Bhupendra Bhayani, one of the AAP’s five MLAs in Gujarat, announced his resignation in December and declared his intention to join the BJP after a meeting with BJP Gujarat president CR Patil.

Another AAP MLA, Umesh Makwana, also expressed his interest in joining BJP, albeit with some conditions.

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