New Delhi, January 18, 2023: Nearly a month after unsuccessfully contesting the Assembly polls as a rebel candidate from the Padra seat, former BJP MLA Dinesh Patel, alias Dinu Mama, has resigned as the Chairman of Baroda Dairy.
In his resignation letter submitted Monday, the two-term legislator has reportedly stated no reasons for the decision.
According to Baroda Dairy insiders, Patel’s resignation was “expected” as he had lost the Assembly polls to BJP candidate Chaitanyasinh Zala. Dinesh Thakkar, media Convenor of BJP’s Vadodara district unit, said, “Dinesh Patel’s resignation is not surprising. He lost the election and must have anticipated a no-confidence motion against him… The party had suspended 48 members, including office bearers of the party as well as the elected representatives, from the Padra taluka unit in November for rebelling. This suspension will stay for six years.”
The tenure of the current office-bearers of the Baroda Dairy ends in June after which the dairy will hold elections. While Dinesh Patel remained unavailable for comment, Baroda Dairy Vice-Chairman GB Solanki confirmed to The Indian Express that Patel had submitted his resignation. “Yes, Dinesh Patel has resigned as the Chairman… The tenure of the incumbent office-bearers ends in June so in absence of a chairman, I will have to discharge the duties as per the provisions,” Solanki said.
Patel had filed his nomination as an independent candidate to take on Congress’ sitting MLA Jashpalsinh Padhiyar (Thakor) and BJP’s Chaitanyasinh Zala in November 2022. When he resigned from the BJP on November 17, the party had also lost 16 elected members of the Padra taluka panchayat where it had formed a majority board in the last local body polls in February 2021 when it won 15 of the 28 seats of the taluka panchayat. With one more independent member joining the party, the BJP sailed through with a majority figure of 16.
Later, 11 councillors of the BJP-run Padra Municipality also resigned in support of Patel, who had resigned from the party’s posts and primary membership before the BJP suspended the rebel leaders according to the reports published in indianexpress.com.
