Hoarding refers to Saurabh Patel as an ‘outsider’, hails ‘insider’ minister

While party leaders distanced themselves from the hoardings put up by Shah, who was said to be aspiring for an Assembly ticket from Patel’s current seat, for the party unit in Vadodara, one of the major reasons for the faction war has been Saurabh Patel — BJP MLA from Akota in Vadodara. While a group of leaders who are office-bearers in various positions have been aligned to the former minister, local MLAs are known to be antagonistic. Party leaders in Gandhinagar say that Saurabh Patel was “relieved” from government responsibilities only to “prepare the way for a bigger role” ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls.

Sources also add that the decision to award a minister status to Vadodara MLA Rajendra Trivedi is a conciliatory move to end the on-going party crisis in the city. Vijay Shah was unreachable for comment on the hoarding.

The tug-of-war between local MLAs of Vadodara and Saurabh Patel was on for a very long time and emerged openly during the 2015 Vadfest event — marshalled by Saurabh Patel and powers delegated to Amit Bhatnagar of Vadodara Art and Culture Foundation. A miffed MLA Yogesh Patel launched his own cultural festival, Shiv Mahotsav, roping in the artistes who had pulled out of Vadfest following major controversies.

A senior leader from the local BJP camp says, “The ice never broke between the groups. Neither groups attended each other’s events, and would only share the dais in compulsion when a Union Minister would visit. Naturally, there is a sense of triumph among the Vadodara leaders as he has lost his cabinet portfolio while a local MLA has got a ministerial berth.”

Another senior leader in Gandhinagar said that the move was to ensure a “smooth functioning” of the unit in the 2017 election. “It should not be called a ouster,” the leader said of Patel being dropped from the cabinet. The leader, who is based in Gandhinagar added that the intention behind the move was to “suitably utilise” the skills of all veteran leaders in the run up to the assembly polls.

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Later, Trivedi issued a statement through his personal secretary, condemning the hoarding put up by Shah. Trivedi’s statement said, “The hoarding has been put up without my knowledge and I strongly object to such a malicious hoarding. No one should put up such hoarding with my photo and I have issued an immediate direction to the Municipal Commissioner to have the hoardings removed.”

According to this leader, Trivedi was handed the Youth, Sports and Cultural Affairs department as Vadodara is being developed as the Centre for Sports Excellence in the state – ironically, an idea that Saurabh Patel has been emphasizing on since 2014.

“The state government has invested a lot of capital in setting up the sports infrastructure in Vadodara and it is only apt that the local MLA gets the charge to oversee its functioning.”

Saurabh Patel was also seen as instrumental in ensuring that the BCA finally kickstarted its ambitious cricket stadium as well as the sanction for VMC’s long-pending crocodile park.