By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is trying to put up a brave front in the face of Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s refusal to hand over power to it, Thursday faced a bigger crisis in its stronghold Gujarat with former state chief minister Suresh Mehta and other dissidents threatening to leave the party.
Suresh Mehta, who was in the capital for the last few days along with former state home minister Govardhan Zadaphiya, Rajkot MP Vallabhai Kathiria and others, returned to Ahmedabad without getting any formal audience with the party high command.
But before leaving, the delegation members told newspersons that since the party high command was not willing to listen to their pleadings, they were left with no option but to leave the party to oppose Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
However, Zadaphiya indicated that the dissidents would prefer that the high command expel them from the party for anti-Modi activities.
BJP leaders in the know feigned ignorance about Mehta’s presence in the city.
But Kathiriya’s personal staff confirmed that they were here, and Kathariya’s personal assistant said they “took the afternoon flight back for Ahmedabad”.
Already former chief minister Keshubhai Patel has put his weight behind the dissidents, equating Modi to Hitler at a public meeting.
Mehta told newspersons that their group’s break from the party was now inevitable because he could not accept Modi’s leadership.
“Let the BJP high command take disciplinary action against us, we have resolved to campaign against the party candidates during the coming assembly elections in the state. We believe the people of Gujarat are our high command, and not those sitting in Delhi,” Mehta said.
He regretted that “the high command has turned a blind eye to Gujarat”.
Sources indicated that the dissident group left for Ahmedabad in order to meet members of the Election Commission who are now on a two-day visit to the state to prepare for assembly elections before the end of this year.