The Hindu : National : Gujarat BJP cracks the whip

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Gujarat BJP cracks the whip

Manas Dasgupta

Somabhai to join Congress “sooner or later”

AHMEDABAD: Even as the suspended Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Gujarat Somabhai Patel announced his decision to join the Congress “sooner or later,” the State BJP president Purshottam Rupala on Saturday cracked the whip on six more rebels including three former MPs for alleged anti-party activities.

Party spokesman Vijay Rupani said the suspension orders would take immediate effect against the former Union Minister A.K. Patel, Chandresh Patel, Lalit Mehta, all former MPs; the former State Minister Arvind Patel, the former Surat Mayor Fakirbhai Chauhan, a close confidant of the rebel leader Kashiram Rana, and diamond merchant Jivrajbhai Dharukawala, one of the architects of the Sardar Patel Utkarsha Samiti, the platform created by rebels to oppose Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The suspension orders were issued after the party came to know of their reported plan to quit the BJP in a day or two.

Dr. A.K. Patel, a strong supporter of the former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, was one of the two MPs elected on BJP ticket in 1984. He had never lost an election from Mehsana until he was defeated in the last parliamentary polls.

Both Dr. A.K. Patel and the former three-time MP from Jamnagar Chandresh Patel turned against the Chief Minister following reports that Mr. Modi had engineered their defeat in the parliamentary elections. In fact, Mr. Somabhai Patel, one of the two sitting MPs suspended, told journalists here on Saturday that Mr. Modi had worked for the defeat of the BJP in at least seven constituencies in the State in the last parliamentary elections.

Dr. A.K. Patel, Mr. Arvind Patel, the former State BJP vice-president K.D. Jeswani, the former Minister of State for Home Gordhan Jhadafiya, the former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, who has already resigned from the party, and several others held a meeting with Mr. Keshubhai Patel in Gandhinagar.

The meeting reportedly discussed whether Mr. Patel and the other rebel MP Kashiram Rana should ignore the show-cause notice issued to them, but no final decision was taken.

Mr. Rana reiterated in Surat on Saturday that he would reply to the notice after he received it.

Mr. Patel said it would have been better had the party questioned him before issuing the show-cause notice, which he was also yet to receive.

Mr. Somabhai Patel said he had served the BJP for over four decades and carried party posters on his shoulders when there was “no Modi” in the party.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her political adviser, Ahmed Patel, were “much better leaders” than L.K. Advani, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Mr. Modi, he said.

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