Dinesh Patel, alias Dinu Mama, a former BJP MLA who ran unsuccessfully for the Padra seat in the Assembly, has resigned from his position as chairman of Baroda Dairy, almost a month after his unsuccessful campaign.
The two-term legislator’s resignation letter, which was turned in on Monday, reportedly contains no justifications.
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.
In order to compete against Chaitanyasinh Zala of the BJP and Congress’s incumbent Jashpalsinh Padhiyar (Thakor) as an independent candidate in November 2022. When he left the BJP on November 17, the party had also lost 16 elected members of the Padra taluka panchayat, where it had previously formed a majority board after winning 15 of the 28 seats in the taluka panchayat in the most recent local body elections in February 2021. The BJP easily won with a 16-vote majority after adding one more independent member to the party.
In support of Patel, who had resigned from his party’s posts and primary membership prior to the BJP suspending the rebel leaders, 11 council members of the BJP-run Padra Municipality later also submitted their resignations.
Prior to joining the BJP, Patel had previously won the election in Padra as an independent in 2007. He began running as a BJP candidate in 2012 and won the seat. He did, however, lose the election to Congress candidate Jaspalsinh Thakor by 20,000 votes in 2017.