Gujarat BJP ‘pamphlet’ plot thickens after Vaghela exit, removal of CMO official, 5th since May 2022

Parimal Shah became 5th official to be removed from CMO. His exit was preceded by claims of his 'link' with 'pamphlets' believed to have led to state BJP gen secy Vaghela's resignation.

Swarnim Sankul in Gandhinagar, which houses offices of Gujarat CM and his council of ministers | Representational image | Courtesy: HCP Design, Planning & Management Pvt Ltd

New Delhi: Parimal Shah, a civil servant attached to the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) as joint secretary, was relieved of his duties last week, making him the fifth official to be shunted out of the CMO since May last year.

According to sources in the Gujarat BJP, Shah was instructed to hand over his charge to IAS officer A.B. Panchal, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), industries, to the chief minister. On Shah’s removal, an official posted in the Gujarat CMO said on condition of anonymity, “We don’t know why he was relieved of his duties. It was an administrative decision.”

ThePrint reached Parimal Shah via telephone but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.

Shah’s removal came days after claims surfaced of the alleged involvement of an individual, reportedly linked to him, in the ‘pamphlet war’ within the Gujarat BJP that is believed to have led to the resignation of state BJP general secretary Pradipsinh Vaghela.

According to a report by Divya Bhaskar, the state government suspects that a pamphlet with allegations of corruption against Vaghela — circulated in the days leading up to his resignation — was allegedly drafted in Parimal Shah’s office by Jimit Shah, who the Divya Bhaskar report suggested was the then joint secretary’s nephew.

In response to questions about the probe, Additional Commissioner of Police (Ahmedabad City Crime Branch) Neeraj Badgujar told ThePrint that he “cannot comment” since an investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Vaghela, according to a report by Ahmedabad Mirror, had purportedly entered into a land deal with his friend Mukesh Shah and the latter’s son Jimit that went sour, after which the father-son duo allegedly printed and distributed pamphlets accusing Vaghela of involvement in ‘murky land deals’. Vaghela was once a close aide of Gujarat BJP president C.R. Paatil.

Party sources told ThePrint that Parimal Shah’s name surfaced in the probe following the arrest of the father-son duo in a ‘stamp paper case’.

Asked about the allegations levelled against him, Vaghela denied having entered into any land deals with Jimit Shah. “I have no links to any land deals. Due to health reasons, I am on leave. Although the two people arrested in the stamp paper case (Jimit and Mukesh Shah) have a history of forgery,” he told ThePrint.

Vaghela’s resignation marked a fresh turn in the ‘pamphlet war’ that is believed to have spurred disquiet within the Gujarat BJP in recent months.

In the weeks leading up to Vaghela’s resignation, the Crime Branch (Surat police) had arrested three individuals on the basis of an FIR filed by Sandip Desai, the first-time BJP MLA from Choryasi, who accused the trio of defaming state BJP chief C.R. Paatil by distributing pamphlets alleging that he had indulged in misappropriation of party funds.

A similar case surfaced in August when the Crime Branch (Surat police) arrested one Jinendra Shah, an Ahmedabad resident, for allegedly trying to extort Paatil.

Days later, in yet another case of a similar nature, the party suspended local BJP leader Alpesh Limbachiya — ruling party leader of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) — for six years, after his relatives were suspected of sending an anonymous letter to the party leadership accusing Vadodara Mayor Nilesh Rathod of corruption.

In light of these developments, a senior Gujarat BJP leader told ThePrint, “The BJP has been ruling the state for the last 25 years. Since Narendra Modi’s shift to national politics, there has been a leadership vacuum in the state and people think they can make money in the absence of tight vigilance.”

“But they do not know that there is a system of checks and balances in the PMO, which keeps a close eye on everything going on in Gujarat and the top officials, whether in the party or in government. All instructions flow from the top.”

‘Spycam case’

In addition to the ‘pamphlet war’ probe, Parimal Shah’s name also came up during a probe into the ‘spycam case’ involving former Anand district resident additional collector (RAC) Ketki Vyas and collector D.S. Gadhvi, according to another report by Divya Bhaskar.

Gadhvi was suspended last month for “misconduct and moral turpitude”, reportedly after an intimate video of him with a woman had surfaced. Following a probe by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) into the matter, authorities arrested three individuals including Vyas for allegedly installing a spy camera in Gadhvi’s office and sending a woman to entrap him.

Parimal Shah, according to the report by Divya Bhaskar, was suspected of ‘shielding’ Vyas.

5th official to be shunted out of CMO

Shah’s was the fifth much-talked-about exit from the Gujarat CMO since May last year.

The first exit from the Gujarat CMO was that of Dhrumil Patel, who worked as Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s personal assistant in his first term (September 2021 – November 2022). Dhrumil Patel, according to another report by Ahmedabad Mirror, was removed in May last year over allegations of corruption levelled against him. The report added that there were also allegations against him of coercing officials to approve files related to land deals.

“Even senior members of the party had complained against him (Dhrumil Patel). The instructions to probe allegations of corruption against him came directly from the PMO. He was with the CM (Bhupendra Patel) when the latter was an MLA from Ghatlodia and was accused then of taking a bribe to facilitate the transfer posting of a police inspector,” said a state BJP leader who did not want to be named.

In March this year, Hitesh Pandya, an additional public relations officer (PRO) attached to the CMO for more than two decades, resigned from his post after his son’s name surfaced in the case involving alleged conman Kiran Patel.

Patel had been arrested earlier that month by J&K Police for allegedly posing as a PMO official during multiple visits to the Union territory. Patel told investigators during interrogation that he was an associate of Pandya’s son Amit, who was then handling social media for the northern zone for the Gujarat BJP. Amit was suspended soon afterwards.

Following Pandya’s exit, the state government in April removed V.D. Vaghela, who was then attached as OSD to the chief minister and was also serving as ex-officio deputy secretary to the government in the urban development and urban housing department.

On Vaghela’s removal, sources in the state BJP told ThePrint, “There were serious allegations of corruption and malpractice in some crucial files related to town planning in the CMO. There were also allegations of corruption in some files related to AUDA’s (Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority) town planning scheme.”

However, officials posted in the state secretariat maintained that Vaghela’s contract was coming to an end and the government decided not to renew it.

Dr M.D. Modia, a 2006-batch IAS officer earlier posted as collector of Bharuch before he was appointed OSD to CM Patel in September 2021, was the fourth official to be shunted out of the CMO. The decision not to renew his contract in July had raised eyebrows given that he was looking after cases related to the revenue department.

Modia was, however, appointed as a member of the Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority (GujRERA) earlier this month.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)