BJP ministers, offices become targets of Patidar fury

AHMEDABAD: BJP leaders find themselves scurrying for cover as attacks mount on party offices and leaders in Patel bastions across the state even as their reservation movement goes on.

Members of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) remain unrelenting and plan to continue boycotting these leaders.

On Tuesday, BJP MLA from Varachha, Kishor Kanani, faced stiff opposition from Patels when he was asked to shut his election office two hours after it was inaugurated.


Two Patels, who recently joined BJP, have been provided security. Tejashree Patel, Viramgam MLA who left Congress for BJP, and Ketan Patel, a former aide of Patidar leader Hardik Patel, have got police cover. Ketan recently turned an approver against Hardik in a sedition case.

In the run-up to the assembly elections, BJP leaders have been facing Patidar fury. Morbi MLA Kanti Amrutiya was cornered by PAAS members in September and forced to say on camera that the government should release Hardik, who was at that time arrested in Patan. A day later, BJP minister Vallabh Kakadiya was gheraoed by PAAS workers in Ahmedabad.

BJP’s first attempt for party’s outreach to Patels was disrupted in Surat in September when party chief Amit Shah was presiding over the function. The scene was almost replayed in Karamsad in Shah’s function in October.

Tearing down of chief minister Vijay Rupani’s posters in Rajkot and blackening of poster of Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani during these days in Saurashtra continue to reflect that Patidar youths are still angry even as Hardik has raised his pitch against the state government and BJP.

Patels targeted BJP leaders’ properties during the violence that followed mysterious police aggression against agitating youths after Hardik addressed a mammoth rally at the GMDC ground on August 25, 2015. Patels termed BJP leaders from the community as ‘traitors’ for not openly supporting their quota movement.