Those opposing Modi are individual hardliners: Barot

Ahmedabad, Oct 24 (UNI) BJP has asserted that the Hindu saints, who have vowed to oust Chief Minister Narendra Modi, are individual hardliners, who were denied ''special favours'' by the Gujarat Government in the past five years.

Reacting to Hindu Dharam Jagran Manch's (HDJM) call for ouster of Chief Minister Narendra Modi from power, State BJP General Secretary Jayantibhai Barot said, ''The HDJM is a bunch of few individual hardliner Hindu saints, who supported us in last assembly polls, opposing the party as we worked for all reglions during our term.'' The announcement assumes significance as this is the first time when the Sadhu Samaj has come out in open against Mr Modi.

The BJP leader said that those who are opposing Mr Modi were doing so in ''individual capacity'' and not as representatives of the Hindu society.

At an HDJM Sammelan held at Amreli on October 22, saints from the state had pledged to oust Mr Modi from power. The Sadhu Samaj is being backed by the dissident groups of BJP. Majority of the sadhu's, who attended the meeting, belong to the Swaminarayana Sect which has a following of one million people.

When asked about the breakaway by RSS and VHP, who are also against Mr Modi, from BJP, Mr Barot said that RSS and VHP have their own identity and ideology. While, in Gujarat Government, we work for every citizen cutting across the lines of different religious faiths.

The sadhus, in a parallel public meeting against Mr Modi in Amreli yesterday, declared that they will fight till the Modi government is ousted. They also asked Uma Bharti's Bharatiya Janshakti Party to contest the Gujarat Assembly Elections in December.

UNI