Gujarat: Independent MLA Dharmendrasinh Vaghela resigns, to return to BJP

Ahmedabad: Independent MLA Dharmendrasinh Vaghela tendered his resignation as a member of the Gujarat legislative assembly on Thursday, and announced that he would soon return to the BJP along with his supporters.

Vaghela, who represented the Vaghodia assembly constituency in Vadodara district, claimed that the motive behind his resignation was to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in their endeavour to establish 'Ram Rajya' in the country.

Vaghela is one of the three independent candidates who won the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections.

He was with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prior to the assembly elections, but rebelled against the party and fought the polls as an independent candidate after being denied the ticket. He subsequently defeated BJP's Ashvin Patel by over 14,000 votes.

Vaghela on Thursday handed over his resignation to assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary in Gandhinagar in the morning, and it has been accepted, an official said.

The move comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that are likely to be held in April.

Talking to reporters after tendering his resignation, Vaghela said he will join the BJP soon and was not promised any post or renomination by the ruling party.

"I have taken this decision after consulting the people from my constituency. I have resigned because I want to strengthen the hands of PM Modi and Amit Shah in their endeavour to establish Ram Rajya in the country. Neither the party has promised anything, be it ministership in the Gujarat government or renomination, nor have I placed any demand," he claimed.

Vaghela and two other candidates were suspended by the BJP for contesting the polls as independents against the party candidates. The two others are Dhavalsinh Zala and Mavjibhai Desai. But after the election, the trio had announced their support to the BJP government saying they were inspired by the pro-people work of PM Modi.

Vaghela is the third MLA who has resigned as a member of the state assembly in two months.

In December, AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani, who represented the Visavadar seat, resigned as member of the state legislative assembly. Recently, Congress MLA CJ Chavda also resigned as the MLA of Vijapur seat.