In Gujarat, a Congress MLA swims across creek to press demand for bridge | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
Rajula MLA Ambarish Dher claims his efforts to get the bridge built had not "materialised despite requests to the state government for funding".
Der released a video on Sunday in which he said he would be swimming from Victor Port to Chanch Bandar along the Rajula coast to “underscore how the government has not responded to the repeated pleas for a bridge”.
“I am doing this so that the state government understands how much a bridge is needed there. I have been demanding a bridge to connect Victor Port and Chanch Bandar, the biggest village in Rajula, at the mere cost of Rs 50 crore for the last three Assembly sessions. If a 350-metre bridge is built across the Victor Port creek, the distance between the two places will reduce by 25 kilometres,” Der said.
Asking why “a Rs 50 crore bridge for villagers of the poor Koli community was not being built,” he said that “his efforts have not materialised despite requests to the state government to allot funds for a bridge”.
In 2017, Der won his debut Assembly election from Rajula by defeating the saffron party’s Hira Solanki by 12,719 votes. Rajula had been a BJP bastion since 1997. Der’s victory ensured the Congress’s win in all five Assembly constituencies — Amreli, Savarkundla, Lathi and Dhari — of the district. Solanki is the BJP candidate this time around as well. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Bharat Baldaniya.
The MLA enjoys influence locally, having been the Rajula municipality president six times. He first contested as a councillor in 2000 on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket. He later switched base to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and went on to become the president of the municipality in 2003 and 2007. He was also with the BJP for a brief period in between. He joined the Congress in 2007. In the past, Der has served as the director of a local cooperative bank called the Rajula Nagrik Sahkari as well as the Rajula Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC).
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