Bharuch (Gujarat),  Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) chief Chhotu Vasava announced on Thursday that BTP will field candidates in all the 27 tribal reserve seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.

"Not a single political party is interested in the welfare and development of either the tribes or the tribal areas. So we have decided to give effective representation to the tribal community, which is possible only if like-minded tribals get elected and fight for tribals' rights. BJP will field candidates in all the 27 reserved tribal seats, from Danta (North) to Umargam (South)," Vasava told IANS.

Refuting rumours that he took the decision after meeting BJP leaders to cut opposition votes, Vasava said, "I have not travelled to Gandhinagar for more than a month now, nor has any BJP leader approached me with any such suggestion. I fail to understand how such rumours surface."

Explaining why the party's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) didn't work, Vasava said, "AAP was offering our cadres posts in their party... Such an alliances cannot work for long."

He also clarified that his party was never in talks with the Congress for seat-sharing.