Gujarat rebels missing at BJP national meet

Bhopal, Sep 21 - The first day of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s national executive meeting Friday was marked by the absence of dissidents from Gujarat, including former chief minister Keshubhai Patel who is spearheading the rebel campaign against present Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Besides Patel, another former BJP chief minister, Suresh Mehta, was not present.

The BJP tried to downplay their absence, along with that of some other dissidents from Gujarat.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told the media that those not attending the meeting have written to BJP President Rajnath Singh, individually citing the reasons for their absence. 'They have all specified their reasons for not being able to attend the meet,' Javadekar said.

He said that Keshubhai Patel had not come on account of the first death anniversary of his wife. Javadekar claimed that one of the senior leaders being referred to as a 'dissident' from Gujarat would be coming for the meet on Saturday.

However, sources in the BJP said that the dissidents from Gujarat are annoyed over the national executive meeting not being held in Gujarat, which goes to polls in a few months. It is learnt that some senior leaders from Delhi had tried to persuade the dissident leaders to attend, but in vain.

Besides Patel and Mehta, former union ministers Kanshiram Rana and Vallabhbhai Kathiria are also absent.

Meanwhile, Modi is attending the meet and was the centre of media attention at the venue.

The BJP is looking for a victory in Gujarat under the leadership of Modi. Party sources say that a victory in Gujarat will draw the roadmap for the next Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) elections.

Sources assert that Gujarat is expected to provide a morale boosting victory for the BJP, which has recently been routed in Uttar Pradesh.

However, Modi has been facing growing dissidence for the last several months.

His detractors accuse him of autocratic functioning. The BJP is trying to work out a solution between the two factions before the elections and had recently deputed senior leader Arun Jaitley to speak to Keshubhai Patel. The talks were inconclusive.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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