As soon as the parliamentary and bye-polls concluded in Gujarat, a fresh stir in the internal political landscape of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to light.

Amid the ongoing turmoil in Amreli, all eyes shifted to Junagadh’s Manavadar as the Congress turncoat BJP candidate Arvind Ladani filed a complaint of anti-party activities conducted by former MLA Jawahar Chavda.

Ladani wrote to BJP state president CR Patil on May 8, alleging, “Former cabinet minister Jawahar Chavda, along with his son and wife, addressed meetings in their factory in Manavadar. On May 4, 2024, in the presence of 700 to 800 workers, they appealed to vote against me (Arvind Ladani) and Porbandar BJP LS candidate Manasukh Mandaviya.”

He also alleged that Raj, Chavda’s son, organised another such meeting on May 6, a day ahead of the elections and appealed to the crowd to vote for Congress candidate.

“Even on the day of voting, May 7, Raj Chavda travelled to Manavadar, Vanthali, and Mendarda, and appealed to people to vote for the Congress. He was also accompanied by Mendarda Congress chief Dhiru Kumbhani and visited five villages of taluka,” statedLadani in his letter.

Moreover, he also alleged Manavadar taluka BJP president Govind Savsani, Manavadar taluka BJP general secretary Jagdish Maru, Junagadh district panchayat child development committee chairperson Rina Maradiya’s father-in-law Jiva Maradiya, and Manavdar town BJP chief Vikramsinh Chavda of openly opposing BJP and causing harm to the party in bye-polls.

Brief backdrop

Jawahar Chavda, a former MLA from Manavadar, was a close acquaintance of Arvind Ladani when he was in the Congress. Later, when Chavda joined the BJP after the 2017 LS elections, he contested against Congress’ Ladani and won the 2019 bye-election from the same seat.

After Ladani’s defeat, Chavda was appointed as the cabinet minister of tourism and fisheries in the Vijay Rupani government in March 2019. During the Assembly polls in 2022, the duo again contested but this time Ladani won against Chavda in Manavadar.

Finally, ahead of the 2024 LS polls, Ladani joined the BJP in March 2024 and was fielded by BJP in the Manavadar bye-election.

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