Gujarat Assembly Polls: Ex-Congress MLA Who Had Accused The Party Of Selling Tickets Joins BJP

Gujarat Election 2022: Rathod, a former MLA from Dehgam in Gandhinagar district, was unhappy after Congress denied her a ticket for the upcoming polls.

Former Congress MLA Kaminiba Rathod joins Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, in Gandhinagar.

Source : PTI

Days after she accused Congress of selling tickets for the next month's Gujarat Assembly elections, former MLA Kaminiba Rathod on Tuesday resigned from the Opposition party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rathod, a former MLA from Dehgam in Gandhinagar district, was unhappy after Congress denied her a ticket for the upcoming polls.

The elections to 182 seats in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.

Dehgam and 92 other seats will vote in the second phase.

Rathod had won the Dehgam constituency as a Congress candidate in 2012 by defeating her nearest rival from BJP, Rohitji Thakor. In the 2017 elections, she lost to BJP's Balrajsinh Chauhan.

Failing to get a ticket for the next month's polls, Rathod accused Gujarat Congress leadership of selling tickets for cash. She had claimed some middleman had sought Rs 1 crore from her for the ticket, an offer she rejected.

Rathod had also alleged that instead of listening to her plea, Congress leadership in Gujarat threatened to file a case against her, which forced her to quit the party and join BJP.

She filed her nomination as an Independent candidate from Dehgam after Congress nominated Vakhatsinh Chauhan, but withdrew it on Monday.

She resigned from the primary membership of Congress on Monday late night and sent her resignation letter to state unit president Jagdish Thakor.

On Tuesday, Rathod and her supporters were welcomed into the BJP fold by state general secretaries Pradipsinh Vaghela and Rajni Patel at the party headquarters in Gandhinagar.

BJP candidate and sitting Dehgam MLA Balrajsinh Chauhan was also present.

"I have left Congress because committed workers are being ignored and leadership is not interested in resolving issues. I am joining the BJP without any expectations. I will work hard to ensure Balrajsinh's victory in Dehgam," said Rathod. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)