Vadodara: Sitting BJP legislator from Manjalpur seat of Vadodara city, Yogesh Patel today morning claimed that he had a call from party leadership, on which he was asked to file a nomination on the party’s mandate. Today was the last day of filing nominations for the second phase of the Gujarat assembly election. Manjalpur was the only assembly seat for which BJP was yet to declare its candidate.

Yogesh Patel is above 75 years old. The party has decided not to field anyone above the 75-age mark. However, Patel was insisting that he must be fielded as a party candidate or he would contest as a rebel. The party repeatedly requested Yogesh Patel that after seven terms, he should now retire and give some new face a chance, but Patel was adamant. Today morning, Patel claimed he was asked to file a nomination. He filed for nomination as a BJP candidate later. The BJP stayed away from announcing Patel’s name as a candidate officially, and so the media was not communicated regarding the same through any press release.

In the press conference in the afternoon, when State party chief CR Patil was asked about it, he skipped the question by reacting – ‘it seems you are running out of questions.’ DeshGujarat