Hours after North Gujarat Congress leader and spokesperson Jayrajsinh Parmar quit on Thursday claiming he was not being given his due in the party, the State Congress asserted that he had resigned of his own volition.
Speaking to Vibes of India (Vo!), Manish Doshi, chief spokesperson of Gujarat Congress, said, “Leaving the party is his personal choice, Congress has not sidelined him, he grew as a leader through the Congress”.
A former Gujarat Mahila Congress president posted on her Facebook reminding Parmar that he had won elections through the Congress identity and wondered how would be defend the BJP, which he had so vociferously criticized all these years.
Jayrajsinh Parmar was earlier the president and also leader of opposition in the Mehsana district panchayat and a delegate of AICC.
Parmar resigned amid speculations that he might embrace the BJP though he told reporters that he would divulge his plans at a later stage. However, what set the tongues wagging was his meeting at his home with Gujarat BJP’s media team member Kishansinh Solanki in the evening. Solanki told reporters that Parmar was welcome to join if he decided to.
Soon after he announced his resignation, local North Gujarat leaders, Rajendrasinh Darbar, the former chairman of the Mehsana District Congress Committee, Vaghubha Jadeja, president of the Becharaji Taluka Congress Committee, and Ranubha Jhala, the former president of Becharaji Taluka panchayat and president Jashubhai Prajapati quit the party to join BJP.
He had given indications that he was calling it quits through a Tweet that on Wednesday that, “With the blessings of Ma Bahuchar, a new beginning from Bahucharaji in Mehsana has been made. Nobody is worried about the fate of the Kabila (clan), everyone’s fighting to become the Sardar (chief) (sic).” Within a few hours, three Congress leaders from Mehsana along with 150 supporters joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gandhinagar.
Parmar stated in his resignation through Facebook:
“Congress has been my home for the past 37 years wherein I have defended it on media channels and social media, fighting as a faithful fighter. But today I am tired, not of fighting, but of the inefficiency of leaders who refuse to put up a fight. I am tired of the mentality in which workers are sidelined despite them sacrificing everything for the leaders who can’t win even their own elections.”
Parmar, who has been a spokesperson of the Congress since 2007, had even suffered a heart attack during a live TV debate show. He cited this too in his Facebook letter.
He added, “I had sought ticket from Kheralu assembly seat in Mehsana in 2007, 2012, 2017 (election) and 2019 (by-election), but I was not given the ticket”.
