Gujarat Congress MLA Kunwarji Bavaliya severed his three-decadeold ties with the party on Tuesday and joined BJP. The ruling party immediately rewarded him by making him a cabinet minister in the Vijay Rupani government. Bavaliya’s crossing over to BJP has not come as a surprise as he had been openly criticising Gujarat Congress’s functioning for the last one month. On Tuesday, he mailed his resignation to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and as an MLA to assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi.

A few hours later, the five-term MLA joined BJP in the presence of state president Jitu Vaghani and deputy CM Nitin Patel. Subsequently, he was administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor OP Kohli at the Raj Bhavan.

The five-term MLA will contest on a BJP ticket from his stronghold Jasdan in a byelection that will be scheduled in next six months. As soon as he donned the saffron scarf, Bavaliya criticised Rahul and sang paens for PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. “Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is breeding the politics of divide between castes and communities. BJP is pursuing development agenda for all,” the school teacherturned politician said.

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