Saurashtrian Patel lobby in BJP 'unhappy' with Jardosh

SURAT: It is split wide open in the city unit of the BJP. Party workers from Saurashtrian Patel community are unhappy with Darshana Jardosh, BJP's sitting Member of Parliament and candidate from Surat parliamentary constituency.
Darshini Kothia, president, city unit of BJP Mahila Morcha and a Saurashtrian Patel, was allegedly insulted by Jardosh in the presence of community leaders, including minister of state for water resources Nanu Vanani on Thursday at a function at Katargam.
Jardosh had to rush to the district collector's office, leaving an election rally in the middle for scrutiny of her nomination papers. Kothia, who was in the election campaign vehicle, was garlanded by the workers and people in Katargam. When Jardosh received pictures of people garlanding Kothia, she got agitated and allegedly insulted Kothia, who was earlier backed by the Saurashtrian Patel lobby in the party for the ticket.
Out of the total 14,47686 voters in Surat Lok Sabha constituency, more than 55 per cent of voters - around 5,93,459 - are from assembly constituencies like Varachha, Katargam and Karanj, which are dominated by Saurashtrian Patels.
In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Jardosh had defeated Congress' Dhirubhai Gajera with a margin of 74,798 votes.
A Saurashtrian Patel party worker said, "It is disgusting to see a woman MP insulting another woman, that too, a Saurashtrian Patel, publicly. We are not going to tolerate this."
A couple of days ago, party workers were irked when Jardosh left early without opening the election office in Surat (West) assembly constituency.
BJP leaders gathered at the party office soon after Thursday's incident and requested Jardosh to control her temperament.
Despite repeated attempts, Jardosh, who happens to be a local Surti, could not be contacted.
Meanwhile, Kothia played down the incident. She said, "There is no issue. Everything is fine."