Former Gujarat minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaynarayan Vyas resigned from the ruling party on Saturday for personal reasons ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections.
A Gujarat Congress leader said Vyas is likely to join the big old party. However, Vyas has kept the cards close to his chest so far.
Vyas, 75, had recently met with former Congress Speaker Sonia Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the Congress leader said.
In his letter of resignation to state BJP president CR Paatil, Vyas said: “I have actively served the BJP according to the party’s ideology for the past three decades. I am resigning from the party today for personal reasons.”
Vyas was a minister in the BJP government in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the prime minister. However, he had lost the 2012 and 2017 parliamentary elections from Sidhpur. He had met in Ahmedabad last week with Gehlot, the Congress’ senior observer for the Gujarat elections.
“Vyas, who helped BJP to build the party in the state, is ignored by that party. He had recently met with Soniaji, Gehlotji and Gujarat Congress in charge of Raghu Sharma,” said Jagdish Thakor, president of the party’s state unit.
“Let’s wait for him to make a decision on whether or not to join Congress,” he said.
BJP’s head of state Paatil said he received the letter of resignation and the party accepted it.
“We had already given him tickets many times, despite his repeated defeats. The party has a rule that it would not give a ticket to those who have passed the age of 75. Perhaps he had decided for his election candidacy or for some other reason to resign,” he said.
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