By Faraz Ahmad, IANS
New Delhi : As Gujarat inches towards elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former chief minister Keshbubhai Patel is breathing fire at Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his own party.
Even as BJP national leaders parrot that they have high regards for Patel, the veteran politician is stepping up his war against Modi, the man who replaced him as Gujarat’s ruler seven years ago.
Patel has just gone on record to describe Modi as a modern day Ravana.
Addressing a public meeting organised by dissident BJP legislator and former state home minister Govardhan Zadaphiya, Patel said: “Now we should not delay our Ravana dahan (Ravana’s slaying).”
And Patel went out of his way to scotch rumours that he was about to betray the growing number of rebels in the BJP, which was once synonymous with Keshubhai in Gujarat.
“Contrary to all speculations, I will not budge,” he thundered at the meeting. “I will stay but will not go out to campaign for the BJP” ahead of the two-phase elections Dec 11 and 16, he added.
Patel’s uncompromising stand is giving fresh oxygen to dissidents in Gujarat’s ruling BJP. It has also demoralised those standing by Modi, who is determined to retain power notwithstanding the odds against him.
But unlike some dissidents who have made up their mind to take on Modi by contesting against official BJP candidates, risking disciplinary action from the BJP, Patel does not want to quit the BJP.
However, he has made it clear to everyone that he will not campaign for Modi, whom he recently compared to Hitler.
Knowing Patel’s disinclination to leave the BJP, the party has been trying to make a fine distinction between him and other dissidents such as Suresh Mehta, another former chief minister.
Recently, BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, who is in charge of Gujarat, dismissed the dissidents as of little political consequence.
But about Patel he had glowing words: “Keshubhai is our senior leader, we have all the regards for him. The dissidents go to his home to enquire about his health. On coming out say they have had a meeting with him.”
Jaitley has indicated that the BJP was keen to involve Patel in the election campaign and also in the choice of candidates.
But Modi’s decision to pack the state parliamentary board with his loyalists seems to have closed all options of a rapprochement not just with the dissidents but with Patel too.
There are 14 BJP Lok Sabha members from Gujarat. Of these only Raju Rana, the Bhavnagar MP, has been included in the board.
“Forget any of us,” said Patel’s confidant Ajay Kumar. “Modi has packed it with his loyalists who will not question him on the choice of candidates.”
Modi heads the board, which also has Gujarat BJP president Purshottam Rupala besides state ministers Vaijubhai Vala, Ashok Bhatt, Anandiben Patel, Maganbhai Patel and Ramanbhai Vora.
Predictably, Modi has not included Suresh Mehta, Gordhan Zadaphiya or Lok Sabha member Vallabhai Kathiria — or even Patel.
More importantly, he has excluded others not openly dissenting against him like former central minister and Ahmedabad MP Harin Pathak, Ratilal Varma and P.S. Gadhvi.
Even those like Kashiram Rana, who has quietly retraced his steps seeing the party’s refusal to move against Modi, has not been included.
The Modi camp has justified its decision.
Vijaykumar Rupani, the party spokesman, told IANS, “There is no question of having any one of them in the board. When they are abusing us, why should we go out of our way to woo them?”
When told that this may lead to some of the rebels contesting against BJP candidates, Rupani replied: “Let them contest. We will also contest against them and defeat them.”