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In Panchmahal seat, BJP ignores saas for bahu, triggers family row

Within minutes of her nomination, an angry Rangeshwari posted a message on Facebook, daring Prabhatsinh to come to Kalol.

Gujarat Elections, Kalol, Gujarat Assembly elections 2017, Kalol Assembly seat, Panchmahal district, indian express BJP general secretary Shabdasharan Brahmabhatt said, “We have seen the letter that Chauhan sent to Amit Shah today. The matter has been resolved. There are no differences.” (File)

The tussle for a BJP ticket from Kalol Assembly seat in Panchmahal district has led to a bitter acrimony in BJP MP Prabhatsinh Chauhan’s household. A day after his daughter-in-law Suman got the ticket, instead of his fourth wife Rangeshwari, the BJP MP sent a letter to party president Amit Shah, asking him to “rethink” the party’s choice of candidate for the seat.

In a bid to scuttle Suman’s nomination, Chauhan alleged that his son — Suman’s husband Pravinsinh Chauhan — was involved in bootlegging, and “both Pravin and Suman have been to jail”. He wrote, “If the current situation persists, I will not be able to win Kalol and Godhra seats for the party.”

Chauhan stressed that the BJP would not get tribal votes —while his wife Rangeshwari is a tribal, Suman is a Rajput. In his letter to Shah, Chauhan wrote: “The BJP will not get a single vote of the 1.10 lakh votes of tribals due to this ongoing controversy. There are big chances that we will lose Kalol. I want to inform you that I will not take any responsibility of ensuring the party’s victory on any of the seven seats under my constituency, including Kalol…. I am a senior leader and yet I have not been given any position in the party organisation.” Chauhan is a prominent Rajput face in the region who had joined the BJP in 1992. Chauhan today said, “I don’t want to speak on the issue.”

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BJP general secretary Shabdasharan Brahmabhatt said, “We have seen the letter that Chauhan sent to Amit Shah today. The matter has been resolved. There are no differences.” Even before the BJP announced its ticket for Kalol, the MP had threatened to quit and contest as an Independent if the party chose not to nominate his wife Rangeshwari, who is president of Goghama taluka panchayat in the district.

His son from his first wife, Pravinsinh, who had recently returned to the BJP from Congress, was eyeing the ticket himself. The party on Friday nominated his wife Suman, a member of Panchmahal district panchayat.

Festive offer

Within minutes of her nomination, an angry Rangeshwari posted a message on Facebook, daring Prabhatsinh to come to Kalol. The post in Gujarati stated, “Prabhatsinh, if you ever drank mother’s milk, then try and campaign in Kalol, I challenge you!”

Sources said that after some BJP leaders intervened, Rangeshwari deleted the post but remained miffed over being sidelined for the Assembly polls. “I had put up the Facebook post out of anger. It is known that Pravin is a bootlegger and a hooligan in the area. He and his wife were in the Congress, and joined BJP recently,” she said. Suman denied any “bitterness” in relationship with her stepmother-in-law, who is 12 years younger than her. “As party workers, we have decided to work together to make sure that our victory margin is big,” she said.

First uploaded on: 26-11-2017 at 06:00 IST
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