Former BJP minister Jay Narayan Vyas with his son join Congress ahead of Gujarat elections

Ahmedabad, Nov 28: Former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Jay Narayan Vyas, who had quit BJP earlier this month, and his son Sameer Vyas on Monday joined the Congress party in Ahmedabad in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

The father and the son switched from the BJP to Congress. Vyas had quit the BJP on November 5 citing personal reasons, according to a report.

While leaving the party, the former minister had said that people sitting in the organization are desirous of fighting elections and are indulging in factionalism, especially in the Patan district.

ભારતીય રાષ્ટ્રીય કોંગ્રેસના અધ્યક્ષ શ્રી મલ્લિકાર્જુન ખડગેજીની અમદાવાદ રાજીવ ભવન ખાતે પ્રેસ વાર્તા : શ્રી @kharge જી #GujaratWithCongress https://t.co/EhKq4OPloI

— Gujarat Congress (@INCGujarat) November 28, 2022

He had further said, "They are targeting leaders one by one in order to remove and replace them."

Jay Narayan Vyas had expressed the desire that he would contest the Gujarat assembly elections 2022 from Sidhpur but did not want to fight as an independent candidate.

He had said, "I will fight the election from Sidhpur but don't want to fight it as an independent candidate. If there is no option left then I might fight an independent candidate otherwise I will form an alliance with any party I like."

In the Gujarat assembly elections 2022, the BJP denied tickets to 42 sitting MLAs. The party also announced its big first chunk of 160 candidates and saw 38 sitting MLAs being dropped.

Big leaders of the state like Vijay Rupani, former deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and party chief Patil had expressed the desire not to contest the upcoming elections.

In the last assembly elections in 2017, the BJP got 99 out of 182 seats. In Gujarat, the party has been in power for the last 27 years.

In this assembly elections, the saffron party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and CR Patil is eyeing its highest seat tally exceeding 140.