Amreli: Naranbhai Kachhadia, the incumbent Lok Sabha MP from Amreli who was dropped by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this time for the 2024 General Elections, has voiced his dissatisfaction over BJP’s candidate for the Amreli Lok Sabha seat, Bharatbhai Manubhai Sutariya, stating that the party had given a ticket to an individual who couldn’t even express gratitude.

Naran Kachhiya, who served as MP for three consecutive terms in Amreli, while addressing a BJP program today stated, “I am grateful to the party for giving me a ticket three times. I have no regrets. However, the selection you have made has betrayed the 23 lakh population of Amreli and 17.5 lakh voters. BJP has betrayed us.”

Kachhadia further highlighted that BJP had many strong contenders like Dilip Sanghani, Mukesh Sanghani, and Dr. Kanabar, Hiren Hirpara, Keshubhai Nakrani. Yet, the party chose to give a ticket to an individual incapable of speaking or giving an interview in Gujarati. Kachhiya emphasized that he was not exaggerating.

During the poll season, the BJP has seen an influx of opposition members into the party. Kachhiya also criticized this policy of the BJP. He said “Someone would come from Congress or AAP in the morning, get a position in the afternoon, get a cabinet minister’s post the next day, get an organizational post, get an MLA ticket, or become an MP. We have no issue with that. We are here to add, not to subtract, but not at the expense of BJP workers. How fair is it for a BJP worker who has been hoisting BJP flags, raising slogans for 35-35 years, and then someone who just arrived sits on the stage and sits in front of a senior worker?”

Kachhadia said, “We have such a big army, yet we are not satisfied. There is some reason behind it. We have such a huge army of workers, power, and all arrangements. Yet, 1.5 lakh votes have fallen short in Amreli Lok Sabha due to voter apathy and workers’ indifference. Because what is happening is offending the workers. In 2019, we had no Zilla Panchayat, Taluka Panchayat, Municipality, no MLA, yet we won by more than 2 lakh votes. There is a reason behind the situation we are in today.”

Addressing BJP workers, Kachhadia assured them not to worry and promised their work would be done regardless of the hour. He expressed disappointment but emphasized the importance of maintaining unity within the party. He warned against threatening workers, stating that it takes years to build a BJP worker but only a few minutes to break one.

Factionalism within Amreli BJP became evident when Bharat Sutaria was chosen over Naran Kachhiya, a three-term MP, for the Amreli Lok Sabha seat. The situation escalated to physical altercations among workers. However, BJP managed damage control at that time, bringing all leaders onto the same platform. DeshGujarat