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BJP leaders issued show cause

Special Correspondent

Differences within the ruling party in Gujarat over flood relief operations

AHMEDABAD: The differences within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat over the flood relief operations has come to the fore with the Vadodara unit of the party issuing show cause notices to two senior leaders of the party for making statements in public.

The Vadodara unit president, Shabdasharan Brahmbhatt, issued the notices to the former secretary and state party spokesman, Nalin Bhatt, and chief whip of the BJP legislature party, Jitubhai Sukhadia, both from Vadodara, giving them three days time to reply.

Mr. Bhatt is a former minister and is considered to be a close confidant of the former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, leading the anti-Narendra Modi group. Mr. Bhatt had openly criticised the State administration and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) for alleged mishandling of the flood situation in Vadodara. He had also described as "half truth" the State Government's claim of having provided cash doles to the flood-hit and said the BJP-controlled VMC had failed in tackling the flood situation.

A close ally of the Chief Minister, Mr. Sukhadia, who Mr. Bhatt alleged had not stir out of the circuit house during the floods, also publicly criticised Mr. Bhatt for his statements and challenged him to prove his statement regarding the government's failure.

Both Mr. Brahmbhatt and Mr. Bhatt declined to make any comment on the show cause notices claiming that it was an "internal matter of the party" and the senior leaders of the party would be able to sort out the matter amicably. Mr. Bhatt, however, said he was surprised over the issuance of the notices since in his statement he had not named any senior leader or the party but had only criticised the administrative machinery.

Earlier, Keshubhai Patel, the former Union Textile Minister, Kashiram Rana, the BJP member of the State Assembly from Surat, Dhirubhai Gajera, and several other senior party leaders had criticised the State administration for the Surat floods but so far none had been issued any show cause notices for public criticism.

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BJP leaders issued show cause

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