Chhotubhai Vasava's Bharatiya Tribal Party strikes deal with Congress to contest from five seats in Gujarat polls

Ahmedabad: Former JD(U) MLA Chhotubhai Vasava on Tuesday said his newly-formed Bhartiya Tribal Party has entered into a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress, and will contest from five places in the Gujarat Assembly polls. Vasava, a tribal leader and MLA from Jhagadia in Bharuch district, said the Congress has offered five seats to his party which he floated after a split in the JD(U). These seats are Jhagadia, Dediapada, Mangrol, Morva Hadaf and Waghodia, all reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. [caption id=“attachment_4216373” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  JD(U) leader Chhotu Vasava. Darshan Desai/Firstpost[/caption] Besides, Vasava’s close aide Anil Bhagat has been offered the Congress ticket from Ankleshwar, he said. “We will contest five seats with our party symbol, auto rickshaw ,” Vasava said. Candidates of his party have filed nominations for Jhagadia, Dediapada and Mangrol so far, he said. Vasava, then a JD(U) MLA, had supported senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel in the recently-held Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat. Patel won by a narrow margin. Vasava sided with the JD(U) faction led by Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav who parted ways with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar over the latter’s decision to join hands with the BJP to form government in Bihar. After the Election Commission denied the 'arrow' symbol of the JD(U) to the Yadav-led faction, Vasava announced that his outfit will fight Gujarat polls on the auto rickshaw symbol in alliance with the Congress.