Vyas, a 75-year-old minister from Gujarat, had recently met former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Vyas, a 75-year-old minister from Gujarat, had recently met former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Former Gujarat minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaynarayan Vyas on Saturday resigned from the ruling party citing personal reasons ahead of next month’s assembly elections.
A Gujarat Congress leader said that Mr. Vyas is likely to join the grand old party. However, Mr. Vyas has so far kept the cards close to his chest.
Mr Vyas, 75, had recently met former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the Congress leader said.
In his resignation letter to state BJP president CR Patil, Vyas said, “I have been actively serving the BJP for the last three decades as per the ideology of the party. I am resigning from the party today due to personal reasons.”
Mr. Vyas was a minister in the BJP government in Gujarat when PM Narendra Modi was the chief minister. However, he lost the 2012 and 2017 assembly elections from Sidhpur. He had met Mr Gehlot, who is the Congress’s senior observer for the Gujarat elections, in Ahmedabad last week.
The party’s state unit president Jagdish Thakor said, “Vyas, who helped BJP form the party in the state, is being ignored by that party. He recently met Sonia ji, Gehlot ji and Gujarat Congress in-charge Raghu Sharma. did.”
“We wait for him to take a decision on whether he will join the Congress or not,” he said.
BJP’s state unit chief Patil said he has received the resignation and the party has accepted it.
He said, “We had given him tickets several times despite his repeated defeats. The party’s rule is that it will not give tickets to people above 75 years of age. Maybe due to election candidates or some other reason, he decided to resign. would have done.” They said.