Gujarat Assembly polls: Ex-BJP MLA joins Congress ahead of polls, claims saffron party sidelined him

With the Gujarat Assembly polls just around the corner, former BJP MLA Balkrishna Patel joined the opposition, Congress party on Sunday. He claims that he has been sidelined by the BJP despite his efforts and hard work. Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and former president Siddharth Patel welcomed Balkrishna Patel (66) into the Congress at the party headquarters.

Balkrishna Patel represented Dabhoi seat in Vadodara district between 2012 and 2017 as the BJP MLA. He had defeated Congress' Siddharth Patel in 2012 to become the legislator.

"I had worked hard for strengthening the BJP at the district and taluka level for many years. I was not given a ticket for the 2017 elections though I was then a sitting MLA. Even my son was denied a ticket for the not-so-important district panchayat polls. I left the BJP because I was being constantly neglected and sidelined," the former legislator told reporters.


Balkrishna Patel said he joined the Congress without any expectation of a ticket for himself or his son in the Gujarat Assembly elections due this year-end.

(With inputs from PTI)