Setback To AAP In Gujarat As 6 Corporators Join BJP

Six corporators of Aam Aadmi Party members joined BJP in the presence of Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi in Surat.

The six councillors said that they left the party because they weren’t given tickets in the December elections. 

Source : Twitter/@BJP4SuratCity

Six corporators of the Aam Aadmi Party joined BJP on Friday in the presence of Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi on Friday.  "Swati Kyada, Nirali Patel, Dharmendra Vavliya, Ashok Dhami, Kiran Khokhani and Ghanshyam Makwana took the membership of BJP," the party official said, according to ANI. The six councillors include Ashok Dhami (housing project), Kiran Khokhani (social welfare and recreational cultural committee), Ghanshyam Makwana (light and fire committee), Patel Nirali (health committee), Dharmendra Vavaliya (transport mobility committee) and Advocate Swati Kayda (law committee).

સુસ્વાગતમ્ pic.twitter.com/ayAeVPiVZX

— BJP Surat Mahanagar (@BJP4SuratCity) April 14, 2023

Earlier, four Aam Aadmi Party councillors Rita Khaini, Jyoti Lathia, Bhavna Solanki and Vipul Movaliya joined the BJP.

As per the Indian Express, the six councillors said that they left the party because they weren’t given tickets in the December elections. 

Sanghavi told the news outlets while welcoming the six new members he said that they had taken the “right decision by joining BJP”. He said nobody had lured them or pressurised them. He added that the six new members realised that AAP’s policies were an obstacle in developing their areas. So they joined BJP to develop Surat city. 

In the 2021 Gujarat civic polls, AAP registered a victory over 27 seats in Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). There are a total of 120 seats in SMC. BJP won 93 of them. Congress failed to register a victory on any seats. 

Now BJP's strength has increased to 103 after the joining of 10 corporators from the Aam Aadmi Party.

Earlier this week, several members of the AAP party and other parties in poll-bound Karnataka joined the BJP in Bengaluru. The leaders who joined BJP include State General Secretary Rajanna, Chikkaballapur district General Secretary of AAP Narasimha Reddy and many other supporters of various parties.

The party leaders expressed their confidence that all the BJP candidates will win in all the constituencies, including in the Chikkaballapur constituency.