Meghraj: Meghraj town in North Gujarat is on strike today protesting withdrawal of Bikhaji Thakor from BJP candidature.

Several hundreds of supporters of Bikhaji Thakor gathered outside the district party office at Modasa against the withdrawal of the Lok Sabha ticket given to Bikhaji earlier.

The locals in Mehgaj, supporting Bikhaji opined that they should get representation in parliament instead of the Prantij assembly seat area which is given representation every time by the party when it comes to the selection of BJP candidate for Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat.

Meanwhile, the State party chief CR Patil called Bhikhaji to party headquarters and convinced him to drop the protests. Bikhaji after this meeting told media persons that he would talk to his supporters and ask them to withdraw from the protests. Bhikhaji said he is with BJP and whatever is party’s decision is final.

Bhikhaji Thakor’s name as candidate was announced by BJP. After a few days, he posted his unwillingness to continue as a candidate on social media platforms. Later speaking to news channels he said he was upset with the decision of the party and he was in talks with party leadership. He also made it public that the party had asked him to stop the campaign. He also said that the coming days will be good for him.

Bhikhaji had submitted his certificates of being a person from the Other Backward Class(OBC) to the party amid controversy that he had a tribal surname Damor till 2018. It is believed that this was the controversy, for which the party withdrew his ticket. It is understood that Thakor’s relatives get the benefit of being tribal (Schedule Tribe), while Thakor benefits from the Other Backward Class. The party didn’t want to get burdened with this controversy ahead of the elections, during the elections, and after the elections in case of any legal matter.

The party on Sunday declared Shobhnaben Baraiya as the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat candidate in place of Bhikhaji. Shobhnaben is from Prantij and wife of former Congress MLA Mahendrasinh Baraiya who joined BJP in 2022. Bhikhaji’s some of supporters also alleged that former Himmatnagar MLA Praful Patel is responsible for the change of candidate. DeshGujarat