"Nothing Bigger Than Self-Respect": BJP MLA Resigns From Gujarat Assembly

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ketan Inamdar on Tuesday tendered his resignation from the state assembly, saying he listened to his "inner voice" and that nothing is being than self-respect.

Mr Inamdar also said his move was not a pressure tactic and that he will work to ensure the victory of BJP candidate Ranjan Bhatt from the Vadodara seat in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

The three-term MLA from Savli seat in Vadodara district submitted his resignation to legislative assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary.

In the letter, Mr Inamdar said he was resigning after listening to his "inner voice".

Earlier also, he announced his resignation as an MLA in January 2020, but it was not accepted by the speaker.

Talking to reporters after tendering his resignation on Tuesday, Mr Inamdar said it was not a pressure tactic.

"For a long time, I felt that small and old workers (associated with the party since long) have not been taken care of by the party. I have apprised the leadership of this," the BJP leader said.

Mr Inamdar said he represented the Savli seat for more than 11 years and ever since he became an active member of the BJP, he has remained associated with the party.

"But like I had said in 2020, there is nothing bigger than self-respect. And this is not the voice of Ketan Inamdar alone but of every single party worker. I have said earlier that old party workers should not be ignored," he said.

"I will work day and night to ensure that our Lok Sabha poll candidate Ranjan Bhatt wins by the biggest margin. But this resignation is the result of my inner voice," he added.

After Mr Inamdar resigned in 2020, he had claimed senior government officials and ministers were ignoring him and his constituency and that many MLAs in the saffron party were feeling "frustrated" like him.

He first won the 2012 assembly election as an independent candidate. He later joined the BJP and won twice in the 2017 and 2022 polls.

The BJP currently has 156 out of the total 182 seats in the Gujarat assembly.

Polling for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)