Gujarat Congress veteran Mohansinh Rathwa joins BJP, a few more MLAs likely to follow suit

The ruling party is likely to field the nine-term MLA’s son in the upcoming Assembly polls

Mohansinh Rathwa, prominent tribal leader, former Minister and Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat, on Tuesday, resigned from the Congress to join the BJP amid buzz that his son is likely to be fielded by the ruling party in the Assembly polls to be held next month.

Differences with the Congress regarding fielding his son from the Chhota Udepur Assembly seat, which is presently held by him, has apparently led to the veteran MLA’s abrupt resignation. Mr. Rathwa, a nine-term MLA of the party, has lost only once in Assembly polls in 2002.

Immediately after tendering his resignation, he joined the BJP in the evening, becoming the second tribal legislator from the State to make the switch to the ruling party in the last four months. Khedbrahma MLA Ashwin Kotwal had resigned and joined the saffron camp in July this year.

Since the 2017 Assembly polls, as many as 18 Congress legislators have defected to the BJP in Gujarat blurring the ideological distinctions of the ruling and opposition camp.

Sources close to Mr. Rathwa, a soft-spoken and mild-mannered tribal leader who served in most of the Congress regimes in the State since 1980, said the MLA was pushing for the candidature of his son Rajesh in the Congress. The switch to the ruling party was part of a “deal” under which the son would likely be fielded by the BJP, they added. 

Meanwhile, another senior legislator and a leading OBC face, Bhaga Barad– Talala MLA from Saurashtra region– is likely to follow suit and join the saffron camp on Wednesday in a blow to the Opposition party, which is banking on the OBCs, STs, SCs and minorities to take on the ruling party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming election in the State.

Mr. Barad is the brother of late Congress veteran Jashu Barad, a former Minister and parliamentarian who had defeated the then Union Minister Bhavna Chikhalia in the 2004 Parliamentary elections from the Junagadh Lok Sabha seat. Mr. Barad is likely contesting the Assembly polls on a BJP ticket from Talala, a family borough in Somnath district.