In Gujarat, the Aam Aadmi Party suffered a major setback before the Lok Sabha elections. AAP MLA Bhupat Bhayani resigned from the party and the post of MLA on Wednesday (13th December). He has said that he is leaving the Aam Aadmi Party due to nationalist ideology. The speaker of the Gujarat state assembly has accepted Bhayani’s resignation.
Bhupat Bhayani said that only due to nationalist ideology, he decided to leave the Aam Aadmi Party and has taken this decision after discussing it with the people of his constituency. It has been only one year since the assembly elections. The MLA’s exit has also dealt a major blow to AAP’s preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.
On Wednesday at 10:45 AM, Bhayani handed in his resignation to the Assembly Speaker, Shankar Chaudhary. The Speaker announced that Bhayani personally delivered his resignation today, and it was duly accepted.
The Aam Aadmi Party is preparing to contest elections in Gujarat under the I.N.D.I. alliance. Bhupat Bhayani said that he was earlier in the BJP and was associated with the ideology of nationalism. He said that he was going to leave the Aam Aadmi Party and join the BJP only because of the ideology of nationalism.
Bhayani said, “I cannot be against PM Modi and I belong to nationalist ideology. That is why I have decided to leave the Aam Aadmi Party. Aam Aadmi Party is not the appropriate platform to work in the interest of the country.” Although he did not clarify when he would join the BJP, he accepted that he would join the party for sure. He said that if the party wants, he will contest the election once again.
Bhupat Bhayani, a BJP member for 14 years, joined the Congress and won the 2017 elections. Then he made a surprising shift to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) just before the 2022 elections. Winning a seat as an MLA from Visavadar on the AAP ticket, he faced talks of resignation within a week of his victory. Initially, he deferred the decision, stating that he would consult with the people in his constituency before concluding. However, a year later, he decided to step down from his legislative position.
This resignation has once again disrupted the functioning of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Throughout the past few decades, the assembly has not consistently retained its full complement of 182 legislators, with disruptions occurring due to various factors such as the passing of a legislator or changes in political affiliations.
AAP state president Isudan Gadhvi has said in his first reaction that the BJP is running a dictatorship, and forcing MLAs to resign. He said that the BJP is afraid of Aam Aadmi Party.
More AAP MLAs to resign in Gujarat?
Currently, only four AAP legislators remain in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, and they may also encounter challenges in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. It is speculated that 2 more MLAs from the Aam Aadmi Party may also resign. According to a report by Divya Bhaskar, after the resignation of Bhupat Bhayani, now Botad MLA Umesh Makwana and Gariadhar MLA Sudhir Vaghani can also resign. The report said that MLA Makwana will make an official announcement soon.
According to a report by Zee 24 Kalak, Sudhir Vaghani is also unhappy with the party and can leave the party at any time. But in a conversation with TV9, Sudhir Vaghani denied these claims and said that he was not resigning. There was no statement from Umesh Makwana in this regard.
AAP MLA, Sudhir Vaghani denied leaving the party, criticizing #BhupatBhayani's action #Gujarat #TV9News pic.twitter.com/oxU5Wp17jf
— Tv9 Gujarati (@tv9gujarati) December 13, 2023
Similar claims are being made in many other reports and it is being said that two more AAP MLAs may resign. It is also being speculated that all the MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party will leave the party before the Lok Sabha elections. There is also talk of the resignation of a Congress MLA.
The Aam Aadmi Party won only five seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections while losing deposits in 128 seats. The five seats are Botad, Gariadhar, Visavadar, Jamjodhpur and Dediapada. The MLA of Visavadar has already resigned. It is said that the MLAs of Gariadhar and Botad may also resign. Meanwhile, Chaitar Vasava, the MLA from Dediapada, has been absconding for several weeks in connection with assaulting forest department workers.
