Why BJP replaced its party presidents in 2 key Gujarat districts

A setback in a local election, a public revolt by an MLA, and the increasingly uneasy relationship between elected representatives and party bosses have forced the ruling BJP to change its organisational guard in the South Gujarat districts of Narmada and Bharuch.

The changes, announced on Tuesday (September 22), came after months of friction in the neighbouring districts, where disagreements over appointments to party posts, distribution of tickets for elections, and the functioning of the district units repeatedly brought the organisation and elected representatives into conflict.

The changes also come against the backdrop of the strong showing by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Narmada local body elections in April, and the conviction and imprisonment of the party’s Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava in a 2023 case of alleged intimidation of forest officers.

Former Gujarat minister and former Nandod MLA Shabdasharan Tadvi has been appointed the Narmada district BJP president, replacing Neel Rao, while Paresh Kantibhai Lad has replaced Prakash Modi as the BJP’s Bharuch district president.

Neither Rao nor Modi has, however, been eased out of the organisation entirely. Both leaders have been appointed vice-presidents of the BJP’s Gujarat OBC Morcha. The BJP has MLAs in all five seats that are part of Bharuch district – Jambusar, Vagra, Bharuch, Ankleshwar, and Jhagadiya, the ST seat that the party won for the first time in 2022.

In the two ST seats of Narmada district, the BJP won Nandod in 2022, while Dediapada was won by Chaitar Vasava. The change of guard in Narmada is the more politically relevant of the two. The appointment of Tadvi as president comes after a prolonged confrontation between Rao and Nandod BJP MLA Dr Darshana Deshmukh, with Bharuch MP Mansukh Vasava throwing his weight behind Deshmukh.

The dispute between Rao and Deshmukh burst into public view in June when Deshmukh walked out of a BJP program in Rajpipla to commemorate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 12 years in office, alleging that she had been humiliated and denied due protocol.

Deshmukh subsequently sat on a day-long dharna at Gandhi Chowk in Rajpipla, where she was joined by Mansukh Vasava, who demanded Rao’s removal. Vasava’s show of solidarity with Deshmukh was significant – the two leaders, who had previously been at odds, had only recently buried their differences after a joint introspection over the BJP’s poor showing in the Narmada district panchayat elections.

Eventually, senior leaders of the party attempted to “mediate” between the warring factions at Kamalam, the state BJP office in Gandhinagar. Results of the April 2026 local body elections had exposed the organisational vulnerability of the BJP in Narmada district.

The impressive performance by the AAP – powered by the tribal leader and Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava – was a major setback for the BJP. The AAP won the Narmada district panchayat with 15 of the 22 seats, and also secured the Dediapada, Sagbara and Garudeshwar taluka panchayats, besides sweeping the newly created Chikhda taluka.

While the BJP retained the Nandod and Tilakwada taluka panchayats and the Rajpipla municipality, the defeat in Garudeshwar taluka represented a major setback for the party because it includes Kevadia and the Statue of Unity.

The victory of the AAP around this hub of tourism came amid sustained local discontent over land acquisition, rehabilitation and employment, issues that Chaitar Vasava had repeatedly raised through his agitations and during his campaign across the tribal belt.

Chaitar is in prison after a sessions court in Narmada sentenced him to seven years’ jail in June in a case arising out of the alleged assault and intimidation of forest officials. The Gujarat High Court declined to suspend his sentence – but while his imprisonment removed him from day-to-day political activity, the local body results demonstrated his continued political influence.

For the BJP, this was an important learning – and it made the question of an organisational reshuffle especially important ahead of the Assembly elections that are due at the end of next year.