BJP leaders link development funding with party poll success

Gandhinagar: After winning 25 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, leaders of the ruling BJP are now increasingly appearing belligerent. While Vadodara BJP president recently had said that development funds should not be spent on areas where the BJP has not secured enough votes, Junagarh MP designate Rajesh Chudasma has said that he will not spare the people who troubled him during the elections, whether or not the party (BJP) acts against them.

Speaking at an event in Junagarh, Chudasma said he will not spare anyone who acted against him during elections. "I will not spare those who troubled me (during elections) over the next five years whether or not the party acts against them. I am saying this in public," Chudasma said. He became a Lok Sabha member for the first time in 2014 from Junagarh and was repeated in 2019 and 2024. Last week, Vadodara BJP president Vijay Shah had said at a public meeting that there were booths where the BJP consistently polls less votes, sometimes in single or double digits across seven or eight hundred voters. Shah had maintained that the development budget should not be spent on areas where the party has consistently not been voted for five, ten or fifteen years and instead focus should be made on areas where people voted for the party.

Shah's comments had drawn criticism from BJP leaders as well as the Congress and Manjalpur (Vadodara) MLA and senior BJP leader Yogesh Patel who said it was Shah's personal opinion.


When contacted BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas claimed the statements as slips on the parts of speakers and said that the party doesn't discriminate between people in its development works. "Whether it is water, education, health or housing, the welfare measures are directed to all the citizens of the state and not to any one segment ever," Vyas said.