BJP MLA resigns from Gujarat Assembly ahead of Lok Sabha polls after listening to his 'inner voice'

Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Gujarat BJP MLA Ketan Inamdar on Tuesday pulled a surprise, submitting his ‘resignation’ to Speaker Shankar Chaudhary citing “the inner voice of his conscience”.

The Savli MLA’s ‘resignation’, sent by email, has brought the alleged dissatisfaction within the BJP ranks to the fore even as senior party leaders have rushed to meet him. While Inamdar remained unavailable for comment, state BJP leaders said the development has come as a surprise.

Inamdar’s resignation comes days after he was felicitated at the hands of BJP Gujarat president C R Paatil and received a certificate for making “the highest contribution” to the construction of the party’s Vande Kamalam office for Vadodara district.

Inamdar is known to be close to Paatil he heaped praises on Inamdar at the event – and has often been referred to as “the most efficient leader and MLA” by Paatil.

Sources close to Inamdar said that his ‘resignation’ is not related to the party fielding sitting MP Ranjan Bhatt for a third term in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Just a few months before his first ‘resignation’, Inamdar, along with BJP MLAs Yogesh Patel from Manjalpur and then MLA Madhu Shrivastav from Waghodia, had also protested in public, demanding that ministerial berths be given to some elected representatives from Vadodara.

Shortly after, Patel had been elevated to cabinet minister and Shrivastav was made the chairman of the Gujarat Agro Industries Ltd.