Himmatnagar: Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi today reached district headquarters Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha apparently for damage control within the party over selection of candidate for Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat.

Sanghavi held series of meetings and interacted with the party men upset with selection of Shobhnaben Baraiya as candidate.

The party had earlier announced the name of Bhikhaji Thakor as candidate. Bhikhaji had also started campaigning. One morning, Bhikhaji on his social media handles declared he was unwilling to continue as candidate. Later in media interactions Bhikhaji said he was told by the party to suspend his campaign and he was upset with that.

As Bhikhaji’s supporters gave bandh call on Meghraj and also stopped highway for a while, the State party chief CR Patil called him to State party headquarters in Gandhinagar and held a meeting. It is believed that Bhikhaji was given assurance that party would take care of him after the election.

However Bhikhaji’s supporters have continued their protests over change of candidate. A day ago, Bikhaji supporters once against entered in to the district party headquarters and created ruckus. When they were told to leave the office, they threw their saffron scarves and argued that the party headquarters was built using party men’s contributions. They argued that Shobhnaben Baraiya is selected by party as she is wife of Mahendrasinh Baraiya who was formerly a Congress MLA and joined BJP in August 2022 only.

The opposition of Bhikhaji supporters was so strong that the party had to cancel its several meetings, and party candidate Shobhnaben had to leave the premises from back door.

While Harsh Sanghavi is in Sabarkantha today for damage control, the State party chief CR Patil is likely to arrive here on April 4. DeshGujarat