Nearly a year after leaving BJP, ex-MLA Mahesh Vasava joins Congress in Gujarat

Mahesh Vasava, son of tribal leader Chhotubhai Vasava, joined Congress during a Yatra after leaving the BJP nine months prior. (Source: Special Arrangement)

Former Dediapada MLA Mahesh Vasava, son of tribal heavyweight leader Chhotubhai Vasava, on Tuesday joined the Congress party during its Jan Akrosh Yatra in Dahod, nine months after he ended his brief stint with the BJP in April last year.

Mahesh, a former two-term MLA from Dediapada in Narmada, reached the Guru Govind Kamboi dham in Dahod along with Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Chavda, Leader of Opposition Dr Tushar Chaudhary, AICC leaders Mukul Wasnik and Ramnkishan Ojha, Gujarat MLAs Anant Patel of Valsad, Jignesh Mevani of Vadgam and other leaders at the concluding ceremony of the second phase of Congress’ Jan Akrosh Yatra. He was welcomed by the Congress party leaders, who also hit out at the BJP for “not working in the interest of tribals”.

Citing examples of “corruption” in the MNREGA scheme, Nal Se Jal Yojna as well as the acquisition of tribal lands for infrastructure project, Chavda said, “The Congress party had ensured the rights of the tribals on the forest land, reservations and education but the BJP government in the name of Bharatmala Project, dams, sanctuaries and airports, has been snatching away tribals’ land… They are not issuing caste certificates to tribals and forcing tribals to travel to other states in search of work, in absence of employment opportunities. The Congress is standing with the tribals… willing to suffer lathis as well as go to jail for the fight for tribal rights.”

Mahesh Vasava’s entry into the Congress party comes at a time when the former president of the now disbanded Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) is searching for a new political identity. Vasava joined the BJP in March 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls that year, after facing a debacle in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls that not only caused a split within the BTP but also his family.

The party, born out of the Bhilistan Tiger Sena – an outfit led by Mahesh that ran a sustained campaign for statehood for Bhilistan, an Adivasi belt along Gujarat’s eastern border – held an influence in the districts of Bharuch, Narmada and the tribal pockets of central Gujarat.

While Mahesh’s close confidant Chaitar Vasava joined the Aam Aadmi Party and successfully contested from Dediapada Assembly in 2022, Mahesh had already withdrawn from the seat and fielded himself from BTP from the Jhagadia AC instead. This led to a split within the family as Chhotubhai filed his Independent nomination from the seat, forcing Mahesh to withdraw his nomination after falling out with his father and step-brother, Dilip.

Members of BTP in Rajasthan and MP went on to form the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) that won three Assembly constituencies in Rajasthan and one in Madhya Pradesh in the 2023 polls.

Mahesh’s father Chhotubhai Vasava, 81, is a politician from the Bhil tribe who started out in the CPI(M) and later joined the Janata Party and its later-day versions of Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United). Chhotubhai, who won his first Assembly election in 1990 from Jhagadia seat, as the Janata Dal candidate, hasn’t lost an election since then.

When the JD(U) split in 2017, Chhotubhai sided with Sharad Yadav and staked claim on the JD(U) election symbol. But with the Election Commission of India ruling in favour of the Nitish Kumar-led faction, Chhotubhai joined the BTP that his son Mahesh set up that year.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Mansukh Vasava from Bharuch, who was instrumental in getting Mahesh Vasava to join the BJP earlier, on Tuesday, said that his move to the Congress would “not affect the BJP”. Mansukh Vasava claimed, “Mahesh Vasava joining the Congress is due to his grudge with Chaitar Vasava, who was once his confidant. His fight is with the Aam Aadmi Party and it will not affect the BJP. Since he has joined a national level party, he can do good work for tribal people. I know that he does not have any grudge against the BJP.”