The BJP faced a major setback in the last assembly polls held in December 2017, where the OBC community dominated in the rural areas. The party is trying to settle the score now and has been actively luring the Congress MLAs coming from OBC communities in the state. Following stalwart OBC leaders Kunvarji Bavaliya and Javahar Chavda who both were made ministers in Gujarat government, two more Congress MLAs from OBC community joined BJP on Monday.
Parsottam Sabariya had quit as MLA on Saturday and joined the saffron party on Monday morning in presence of party chief Jitu Vaghani at Gujarat BJP headquarter Shri Kamalam. Sabariya was elected from Dhrangadhra constituency of Surendranagar district where BJP faced a big jolt in last assembly polls with only one seat out of total five.
Sabariya belongs to Thakor community and joined BJP with hundreds of supporters. After Sabariya another OBC community MLA Vallabh Dharaviya from Jamnagar Rural too quit Congress and joined BJP in the evening.
After the formality was over, Sabariya said, "Congress has such a culture that they will not let the elected members think of the development of their constituencies. When people elect us, they would expect development but there is no meaning to be with Congress. The Congress party's psychology is to loot this nation, run nepotism and favouritism."
Sabariya was involved in a bribery case in which he had taken money from a private contractor of public works in return for not raising an issue in the assembly of the poor construction. He was also sentenced to imprisonment and is out on bail these days.
Talking over the issue, Sabariya said, "I was wrongfully trapped in the criminal case by the private contractor. I am innocent and the court has also granted me bail," Sabariya added.
Reacting on the two party MLAs joining BJP, leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani in Gujarat assembly said, "BJP is trying to damage the opposition. They know that people would not elect their candidates and therefore they are lending support from opposition MLAs."
