Junagadh BJP MLA alleges police collusion in local gambling clubs thriving

A BJP MLA and his supporters staged a protest at a police station on Saturday demanding closure of gambling clubs at Manavadar in Junagadh district. The Junagadh MLA openly criticised the local police under whom gambling clubs were thriving in exchange for a daily payoff of ₹70,000. 

Concerned over the growing vice of gambling in Manavadar, BJP MLA Arvind Ladani launched an agitation against the police. The MLA, along with his supporters, reached the police station and staged a sit-in protest. 

Ladani accused the police of colluding with officers from Manavadar and Bantwa, allowing illegal activities to flourish in the area. He alleged that police officials are taking payoffs without hesitation and permitting gambling clubs to operate, claiming that the daily payoff amounts to ₹70,000. 

According to him, gambling is destroying the youth, yet these clubs operate freely under the police’s protection. His protest at the police station has heated up local politics.

Earlier, former minister Bavku Undhad alleged that female students in schools and colleges are unsafe. He wrote a letter to Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi stating that in Amreli, where the number of female students is high, anti-social elements engage in harassment.

Thus, when it comes to law and order, BJP MLAs themselves are showing a mirror of society to both the government and the police.

BJP MLAs taking on their own government

Recently, BJP MLAs have launched a “letter war” against their own government. For example, Viramgam MLA Hardik Patel threatened a public agitation over overflowing gutters in the city.

Later, MLAs Hira Solanki and J V Kakadiya raised questions about lion deaths, blaming the Forest department’s inaction. In addition, MP Mansukh Vasava criticised the government over dilapidated bridges. Now, Manavadar MLA Ladani has staged a protest against the police. In this way, BJP legislators have been openly confronting their own government.