Veteran Gujarat Congress MLA Kunwarji Bavaliya resigns, joins BJP

GANDHINAGAR: Senior Gujarat Congress MLA and prominent Koli community leader Kunwarji Bavaliya on Tuesday tendered his resignation as a legislator as well as from the party, and joined the ruling BJP.

Bavaliya is set to take oath in the evening as a minister in the Vijay Rupani government , BJP state president Jitu Vaghani said.

Bavaliya, a six-time MLA from Jasdan constituency in Rajkot district, handed over his papers to Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Rajkot during the 2009 elections.


The Koli community leader, who has been sulking ever since the December 2017 elections for being ignored for any key party position,soon turned up at the office of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The move by Bavaliya, a prominent Koli community leader, is being seen as a blow to the Congress in Gujarat ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha.

In an email to Congress president Rahul Gandhi to inform him about his resignation, Bavaliya expressed displeasure over the party's functioning in Gujarat, Congress sources said.

His resignation comes days after another leader from Rajkot, former legislator Indranil Rajyaguru, quit alleging that the Congress leadership ignored the aspirations of several party seniors.