India News | Gujarat: Ex-Congress Leader Jayrajsinh Parmar to Join BJP

Ahmedabad, Feb 20 (PTI) Days after he resigned from the Congress for being "sidelined" by the party, Gujarat leader Jayrajsinh Parmar on Sunday announced that he will join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gandhinagar on February 22.

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Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in December this year.

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Parmar had resigned from the Congress on Thursday, after 35 years of being in that party. He was a party spokesperson.

In his resignation letter, posted in the form of an address to his supporters on his Facebook page, Parmar had expressed anger over the functioning of the state party unit. He had said that the organisation sidelined him for a long time and that it has become a "personal property" of some select leaders who cannot even win polls.

In a Twitter post on Sunday, Parmar said, "With the blessings of Mother Goddess, I will be joining BJP on Tuesday at the state party headquarters Shri Kamalam."

In his resignation letter, Parmar had also said that although he was not offered a respectful position matching his caliber in the Congress, he had never complained and remained committed all these years.

He had also said that although he had sought ticket for Kheralu Assembly seat of Mehsana in the polls of 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2019 (bypoll), he was not given the candidature by the Congress.

"Despite that, I remained committed. I have drawn party leaders' attention towards the flaws in the party's internal system in the past. But since the party is not willing to make changes in its functioning, I am left with no other option than to leave the party," he had said in the letter.

After his resignation, Gujarat BJP's media team member Kishansinh Solanki had met Parmar at the latter's house on Thursday. Solanki had later told reporters that the BJP would welcome Parmar if he decides to join the ruling party.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)