VADODARA, February 7: The Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) suffered a severe setback on Friday as over 6,000 members resigned from the party in Vadodara district to protest against tickets to new faces in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.The mass resignation has given a fillip to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, especially in rural areas.
Kodarsinh Raulji, chief of Savli taluka, was among those who resigned. Speaking to The Indian Express, he alleged that Rajendrasinh Rathod, chairman of the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA), and Hemchandra Bochare, chairman of the Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL) had decided the names of RJP nominees, while they should have been cleared by district party president Himmatsinh Parmar. Parmar is also reported to have sent in his resignation.
In Savli itself, 11 office-bearers, 64 executive committee members and 1,500 primary members havefaxed their resignations to the party headquarters.
According to Raulji, resignations have alsobeen sent by the cadre from Karjan, Shinor, Sankheda, Padra, Naswadi, Tilakwada, Waghodia and Dabhoi talukas.
Raulji also alleged that rebel candidates had been fielded against official nominees in more than nine seats. According to him, although the Savli taluka committee had suggested six names as possible candidates, only Neo Patel's name was forwarded to the State RJP leadership. Patel is reported to be a close associate of VUDA chairman Rathod.
While Parmar was contesting from Vaghodia Assembly constituency, Padra taluka president Indira Patel and Karnsinh Vaghela -- both of whom have also resigned -- had filed their papers for the Padra seat. Senior leader Kiran Purohit said he and others who have put in their papers have not decided about joining any party.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
