Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) leader and ex-MLA Mahesh Vasava and former Congress legislator Mahesh Patel are now part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as the two joined the saffron party today in Gujarat.
The former legislators along with local leaders from the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and their supporters were inducted into the BJP by state president C R Paatil in a function at the party's state headquarters 'Kamalam'.
Mahesh Vasava, the son of BTP chief Chhotu Vasava, was the party's national chief and represented the tribal reserved seat of Dediapada in Narmada district after winning the 2002 assembly election as a Janata Dal leader. He lost the seat in 2007 and 2012 and again won in 2017.
In 2022, Mahesh Vasava filed his nomination as a BTP candidate from the Jhagadia seat in Bharuch, but he was forced to withdraw amid differences with his father, who decided to contest as an independent candidate.
Former Congress MLA Mahesh Patel won the Palanpur assembly seat in 2017 but lost to Ankit Thaker of the BJP in 2022. Speaking on the occasion, Paatil said leaders from different parties want to join the BJP to participate in the country's progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"When Modi was the chief minister, he set up a model with the development of Gujarat, which inspired people from across the country to elect him as the prime minister. Today, political pundits also believe that Modi will win for the third time, and that too, with more than 400 seats," the BJP leader said.
After his induction, Mahesh Vasava said he got an opportunity to work with Modi when he became the chief minister of Gujarat for the first time.
"I joined the BJP as I was inspired by the way Modiji is working for the development of the country...We will work to strengthen the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections," he said. Congress' Prernaben Singh and AAP leader Sanjay Mori also joined the saffron party at the function.
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