Gujarat : Former Congress MLA Arvind Ladani joins BJP

Gandhinagar : Former Gujarat Congress legislator from Manavadar, Arvind Ladani on Thursday joined the BJP after quitting from his legislature constituency last week.

In a function held at Junagadh’s Vanthli town, Ladani alongwith his supporters donned the saffron ‘Khes’ in the presence of the state BJP president CR Paatil.

“Inspired by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leaders from other political parties are joining the BJP and I welcome Arvind Ladani in the party. The leaders from the Congress are quitting the party due it’s leader’s indecisiveness. The Congress for years gave the slogan of poverty removal – ‘Gareebi Hataao’, but actually did nothing to do that. Whereas, without giving any sort of slogan, Modi brought freed 25 crore people out of poverty,” said Paatil at the function.

Ladani, a first time legislator from the Congress from the Manavadar seat of the state assembly, quit his seat by tendering his resignation to the assembly speaker Shankar Choudhary at his Gandhinagar residence on the eve of the entry of Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ led by its Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat. This move was just two days after party stalwart Arjun Modhwadia walking out of the organisation and later joining the BJP.

With the fresh setback, the Congress strength in the 182-member House has come down to 13 from 17 in just 15 months after the Assembly polls results. Ladani had earlier expressed to fight the by-poll from Manavadar if the ruling party nominates him from the seat.

Ladani had defeated BJP candidate Jawahar Chavda, a Congress turncoat, in the 2022 Assembly polls by a slender margin of 3,400 votes. Arvind Ladani was one of the 17 Congress MLAs who won in 2022 in an election swept by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Arvind Ladani is the fourth Congress legislator who quit the grand old party in a span of just three months. Prior to him, the senior Congress MLA and former Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia had tendered his resignation from all posts and joined the BJP.

Prior to that, Khambhat MLA Chirag Patel and Vijapur MLA CJ Chavda had also joined the BJP after quitting as Congress legislators.