Gordhan Zadaphia, who served as Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home and also once a strong critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been appointed as the next election in-charge of BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP President Amit Shah surprised everyone in BJP by appointing Zadaphia, who quit BJP and contested against the party, as the new election in-charge among 17 state in-charges appointed by the saffron party.
He was dropped out of the cabinet by then CM Modi. In 2007, Zadaphia formed his own Mahagujarat Janta Party (MJP) and contested against BJP. He joined shook hands with Keshubhai Patel who was the Chief Minister before Modi took over.
Zadaphia was an old hand of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and was considered to be a close aid of Pravin Togadia.
He, however, shrugged off the questions on his rift with BJP and said that such “ups and downs” are a part of the political life. He claimed that he remains committed to the ideology of RSS and will always remain a ‘Swayamsevak’.
Zadaphia expressed his gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him this responsibility. He added that what happened earlier is “past” and claimed that he later became an ally of BJP in 2014 realising that personal egos should be kept aside for “sake of the nation”.
Two more leaders – Dushyant Gautam and Narottam Mishra are also appointed as in-charge of Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls.
Uttar Pradesh is the most crucial state in the country which sends 80 lawmakers to the Parliament, which is enough to influence the decision on who rules the country.