Chhotu Vasava's younger son to contest Bharuch LS seat as Bharat Adivasi Party candidate

Bharuch: Veteran tribal leader Chhotu Vasava on Tuesday announced that his younger son Dilip Vasava will contest the Lok Sabha election from Bharuch seat in Gujarat as the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidate.

The BAP was formed in 2023 in Rajasthan where it won three assembly seats. The party also won an assembly seat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections last year.

Chhotu Vasava (78) joined the party last month.

"Our committee met to discuss the seats which the BAP will contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, and decided to field Dilip Chhotu Vasava from Bharuch," Chhotu Vasava said in a video statement.

The BAP will continue its fight for the cause of tribals, he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its sitting MP Mansukh Vasava from Bharuch, while the opposition INDIA alliance has nominated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Chaitar Vasava.

In 2017, Chhotu Vasava formed the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), which is now defunct, after leaving the Janata Dal (U).

His younger son Dilip Vasava has been active in the BAP for some time and is one of the key party functionaries at the national level.

His elder son and the then BTP president Mahesh Vasava recently joined the ruling BJP.

In the 2017 Gujarat assembly polls, the BTP won from Jhagadia (Chhotu Vasava) and Dediapada (his son Mahesh Vasava).

In the 2022 state polls, Chhotu Vasava fought as an independent from Jhagadia after differences with his son, but lost to BJP's Ritesh Vasava.

Mahesh Vasava was defeated by AAP's Chaitar Vasava from Dediapada seat in Narmada district in the 2022 assembly elections.

Polling in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7.