Patel community flexing muscles against Modi and BJP

Surat, Jun 11 (UNI) After lying low for over three years, the dissidents in Gujarat BJP are again taking on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and trying to pressurise the party high command by holding rallies under Patidar Samaj or Patel community as the assembly elections loom on the horizon.

The first such rally is taking place at Daruka College grounds here late tonight where the Patidar or Patel Samaj organisers are expecting a massive attendance. The event will see Union Civil Aviation Minister and NCP leader Praful Patel and former Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Narhari Amin will be felicitated by the community leaders. Former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel was also to be honoured but is said to be unable to attend. His son, Bharat, will be present on his behalf.

BJP MLA and former state Minister Bavku Bhai Undhad, who has been served with show cause notice by the party, told a group of visiting mediapersons from Delhi that he was ''not interested'' in fighting elections in the leadership of Mr Modi and claimed that such numbers will be around 20 to 25 MLAs in the party.

''I have told our leaders that I would rather prefer to contest on the camel symbol rather than contesting on the Lotus symbol of the BJP'', he said.

The Patel community accounts for 20 per cent of Gujarat's population, and is a dominating force in in Saurashtra and Kutch region. There are also Patel sub-castes like Leva and Kadva Patels, who are attending the rally, which is being seen as the community ''flexing its muscles'' against Mr Modi.

The community feels ''insulted'' by Mr Modi during his regime, lasting over six years. ''We are a big community consistently voting for the BJP for several successive elections, but now under Mr Modi, we were have been willfully ignored and but for the lone woman minister of state in the Modi cabinet, the community has been shunted out of governance'', a senior former Minister, not wanting to be quoted, said.

The presence of VHP leader Praveen Togadia, a one time defender of Modi, in the Patidar conference, is also seen as an indication of souring of relations between the two.

With the trouble brewing up for the BJP, the Congress -- which has been out of power for long period -- now sees an opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Party president Sonia Gandhi has been touring Gujarat frequently, building up tempo for the party.

''Mr Modi yesterday has claimed that he will not perform 'mujra' in Delhi. Now he will have to present himself the people of Gujarat, the money received during the BJP-led NDA regime when Mr L K Advani was the Deputy Prime Minister and during the Congress-led UPA coalition government... Gujarat was provided Rs 10,000 crore for the power sector but this money was used for purchasing power at an exhobitant cost and not invested on generating power,'' Gujarat High Court advocate and Congress sympathiser B M Mangukia said.

A former BJP minister said that the 'low turnout' in Ahmedabad yesterday to felicitate Mr Modi becoming the longest serving Chief Minister of Gujarat was an indication that he was losing out on popularity. ''The Government machinery was on the job of collecting people but they could barely manage 35-40,000 people on such an important occasion,'' a prominent BJP dissident said on the condition of anonymity. ''Many of our leaders including former CM Suresh Mehta and Gordhan Zadafia have complained to the party high command and RSS leadership about the impending problems but we have got nothing but an assurance ..... dheeraj rakhiye (kindly have patience), the leader said, adding that over 3,000 complaints have been faxed to the leadership, accusing Mr Modi of violating the party constitution. ''All these have not met any response from the BJP leadership,'' he claimed.

The BJP leadership, which had threatened to take action on anyone attending Patidar Conference, has now toned down its threat, stating that attending the conference would not be considered indiscipline but what the leaders speak at the Conference could be.

This game between the leaders of a ''disgruntled caste vote bank'' and the party leadership is not just going to end here, with the Patel leadership having asserted that they would take the fight to other important towns like Rajkot and Mehsana towns in Saurashtra and Kutch regions too.

UNI