Gujarat BJP MLA Ketan Inamdar resigns; says being ignored by ministers and govt officials

In a major setback to the ruling BJP in Gujarat, the party MLA from Savli in Vadodara district, Ketan Inamdar, on Wednesday, forwarded his resignation to Legislative Assembly Speaker alleging that senior government officials and ministers are ignoring him and his constituency.

Inamdar also claimed that many MLAs in the saffron party are feeling "frustrated" like him. Meanwhile, Congress has invited Inamdar to join the opposition party.

However, the BJP was still confident of convincing Inamdar to take back his resignation.

The MLA stated that he was feeling humiliated by his own party leaders and some bureaucrats.

"It seems that honour and respect of an MLA are not maintained in this government. I have resigned because of the attitude of BJP leaders and bureaucrats who were ignoring me and did not give the respect deserved by an elected representative," Inamdar told PTI.

The MLA claimed that BJP ministers and even bureaucrats did not bother to listen to him when he used to approach them for resolving problems of people of his constituency. “I have sent my resignation by email to Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, CM Vijay Rupani and state party president Jitu Vaghani,” he said.

BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said the party leadership will talk to Inamdar and try to resolve the issue. "The MLA has not given any political reason for his resignation, but he seems unhappy with some bureaucrats not resolving issues in his constituency," Pandya said.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, Paresh Dhanani, said the episode has exposed the current state of the BJP in Gujarat.

"I am extending an offer to Inamdar that he can join the Congress party," he said. Inamdar was elected as an Independent in 2012 from the Savli assembly constituency and later joined the BJP.

He was re-elected in 2017 assembly elections on the BJP ticket defeating Congress nominee Khumansinh Chauhan.

“I had continued to work as a disciplined soldier of the BJP and protected interest of the people of the constituency. But when I am not able to solve problems of the people, I have to take a conscious decision to resign,” the MLA said.

Inamdar clarified that he had resigned from MLAship and not as a primary member of the BJP.

"I will hold a press conference in the next two days to inform circumstances leading to my resignation," he said.

The BJP currently has 103 MLAs in the 182-member House, followed by the Congress (74), the NCP (1), the BTP (2). While one MLA is an Independent, one seat is vacant.