Gujarat Confidential: Not so calm Aadmi

The Aam Aadmi Party's Gujarat working president and Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava. (Photo: X/@Chaitar_Vasava)

THE AAM Aadmi Party’s Gujarat working president and Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava got into a face-off with officials of the Narmada District administration on the stage at a government event to inaugurate the Eklavya Model Residential School in Sagbara taluka on Friday. Chaitar Vasava arrived at the event and took the microphone to publicly question the District Collector as well as the Sub-Divisional Officer why he was left out of an event that was organised to inaugurate a school built from the money of the taxpayers, where Gujarat Tribal Affairs Minister Naresh Patel was chief guest.

“I am the representative of the people of this area. Not inviting me is not an insult to me, it is an insult to the people… I want to ask the District Collector, SDM and Project director, do you have a problem with me? I am well aware of how the administrative machinery functions… When Prime Minister Modi recently visited the area, crores of rupees from tribal development funds were spent on the dome, dais and other event management expenses. Do you feel troubled when I ask such questions?” Chaitar said.

He said salaries paid to MPs, MLAs and administrative officials are “paid from the public tax ” and the officials must explain why a public representative was not invited to the programme. The event turned stormy as an official on the dais asked for the microphone to be switched off, leading to the crowd protesting in support of the MLA and prompting BJP MP Mansukh Vasava to intervene to stop the crowd from leaving.

With the civic body polls around the corner, the BJP’s state vice-president Rasik Prajapati on Friday had a word of advice for the sitting elected corporators of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. Prajapati, who was attending an event to felicitate the appointment of Vadodara Lok Sabha MP Hemang Joshi as the chief of the Yuva Morcha of the state BJP, said in his address to the local leaders, “Corporators have been given five years… It is their responsibility to make the party win by working for whoever gets the ticket.”

Prajapati, who is also the party’s Vadodara district president, added, “People who constantly appear in the papers (in the news) do not come in party activities…” The remarks have since gained traction as a video of Prajapati’s purported statement has been widely shared on social media and political circles. The party will soon begin its hustle for ticket distribution in the wake of the recent reservations for the OBC candidates.