Congress may reconsider
suspension of Solanki men
By Deepal Trevedie
The
high command is ready to consider the withdrawal of suspension of four
Congressmen expelled on Sunday by state party president C.D. Patel if
they refrain from making "derogatory and de-motivating" remarks against
the party in general and Mr Patel in the much hyped convention scheduled
on Tuesday at Gandhinagar. Son of former chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki
and three others were suspended from the Congress on Sunday.
A top AICC source said
on Monday that the party high command "respects" Mr Madhavsinh Solanki
and "recognises" his immense contribution to the Gujarat Congress. "If
his group refrains from making any controversial statements in their
convention, their suspension orders would be withdrawn," the source
said.
With this, attention has
moved to the convention to be held at the Gandhinagar town hall on Tuesday
afternoon. There was a speculation that the Solanki group would call
off the convention but it appears that they are all set to go on with
it. The original pamphlet distributed by this group stresses that it
will focus on the need for an efficient leadership in Gujarat and highlight
how the present leadership has failed in encashing failures of the Keshubhai
Patel government.
Meanwhile, Mr C.D. Patel
claimed on Sunday that he did not require permission from the party
high command to initiate action against those indulging in anti-party
activities. Mr Patel said he was compelled to take this decision after
the Solanki group did not heed to any of his warnings. "At least 17
district Congress presidents and 53 MLAs feel that this group has been
indulging in anti-party activities. In the past too, we have drawn the
attention of the party high command in this connection. The AICC told
them not to organise any convention to air grievances. However, this
group did not head to the AICC advise and went ahead with their plans
to hold a convention hence I had no option but to expel them."
Going a step further, leader
of the Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary warned, "Those attending the convention
should be ready for disciplinary action." Both Mr Patel and Mr Chaudhary
said the Solanki group had been staying off from official programmes
and demonstrations organised by the party since quite some time now.
According to them, the party organised 450 programmes in last few months
but the Solanki group was always conspicuous by its absence. Meanwhile,
a top AICC leader said that the top brass was surprised by the "hasty"
action taken by the state party president. "We had received a number
of complaints from the Gujarat Congress regarding the Solanki group
but we were not aware of Mr Patel’s decision to expel them," he added.
Mr Patel also confirmed
that he had not informed the AICC’s Gujarat in-charge Ms Prabha Rao
or AICC treasurer Ahmed Pate! about his decision to expel the four Congress
leaders.
GPCC expelled Bharat Madhavsinh
Solanki, who is an MLA representing Borsad in the Assembly, former minister
and party spokesman Navin Shastri, Gandhinagar district Congress president
Kasambapu Tiramzi and party executive committee member Jagdish Thakor
for "anti-party activities." According to a Congress leader, the party
president could not decide to expel these leaders and according to the
AICC constitution, a formal permission has to be sought before any decision
is taken. Regarding this, party president C.D. Patel said the Gujarat
Congress will send a confidential report to the party high command in
next 48 hours.
"If the high command wants
to revoke the suspension order, I have no problems," Mr Patel said adding
that the high command was the final authority on the matter. Mr Patel
said he was ready to go to Delhi and discuss with the party high command,
"the highly objectionable anti-party activities of the Solanki group."
Answering a query, he said it surprised him that the Solanki group was
indulging in anti-party activities merely to oust him. "As such my three-year
term is coming to an end and they need not resort to such means to remove
me," he said.
