Congress loses Ahmedabad district panchayat polls too

AHMEDABAD: With six Congress defectors, the BJP returned to power in Ahmedabad district panchayat. The BJP had lost the Ahmedabad district panchayat in the elections held in December 2015 to the Congress.
The 34-member district panchayat had 15 BJP and 18 Congress members. In October 2015, one BJP member had supported the Congress candidate. On Wednesday, during the election for the president and vice president, six Congress members, including the executive committee chairman Manuji Thakore, voted against the Congress candidate.

The Congress had fielded Amarsinh Thakore for president and Amarsinh Solanki for vice president. The BJP fielded Jitendrasinh Chauhan for president and Bhavi Patel for vice president. As six Congress members voted for the BJP candidates, the BJP, which was in a minority with 14 (as one BJP member had voted for the Congress earlier) members, got the support of 22 members. The member who had cross voted for the Congress earlier also returned to the saffron party. The Congress, from a majority with 18 members found its strength reduced to 12.

The Congress was aware that even if a couple of members voted against the party it would lose the election. The party had even taken its members to Udaipur ahead of the vote. Sources in the Congress said that as these members returned on Wednesday morning, they came in contact with BJP leaders, were won over and voted for the BJP. Manuji Thakore, the man behind the turnaround in the district panchayat and executive committee chairman had proposed that he be made president. However, Khodaji Thakore, the Ahmedabad district Congress president and his son Alpesh Thakore wanted Amarsinh Thakore to be president. Alpesh is the MLA from Radhanpur and is said to have played a major role in the nomination.

Manuji Thakore said, “Congress leaders including the district president did not allow members to work effectively. There were several committee that never met since they were formed. We wanted to serve our voters and decided to be on the side of development.”

The BJP’s newly elected president Jitendra Chauhan thanked the Congress members for voting for him. He said, “There was no deal worked out. Congress workers wanted to be on the side of development and supported us. We will work in close coordination with them.”