Testing times ahead: keshubhai gets a breather
By - Deepal Trevedie

The national drama enacted in Delhi of Keshubhai Patel being replaced as the Gujarat chief minister has exposed the sordid state of affairs in the Gujarat BJP where a certain section of the state BJP backed by RSS tried to play a venomous game with the chief minister, simply because they thought that he had to learn a lesson in a tough manner.

Chief minister Keshubhai Patel has paid a price for imposing his own decisions without consulting the party and not co-ordinating with the party for any thing. Intense changes in government and party are now soon expected, for Mr. Patel has reportedly promised the Central leaders of "several changes to make the BJP more efficient in Gujarat."

Whether Keshubhai likes it or not, he will have to "consult and co-ordinate with the BJP party regularly." And he will also have to bear the burden of his arch rival Narendra Modi playing a subtle but a strong role in Gujarat politics in the coming days. "If Keshubhai does not improve his style of functioning, he will have to pack his bags by January. He has three months to prove himself," a source said.

At the end of the game, Keshubhai Patel has got a lease of life, albeit temporarily, but it is certain that the adept politician has lost out much in last 48 hours and paid heavily in terms of self respect and embarrassment for not "co-ordinating properly between the government and the party."

BJP president Jana Krishnamurthy has announced that a detailed introspection about the by-election debacle would be done and "forces leading to dilution of BJP in Gujarat would be thoroughly dealt with." It has now been revealed that the mammoth exercise to sack the chief minister was a brain child of Mr. L.K. Advani and Mr. Narendra Modi backed by a loud-mouthed Madanlal Khurana.

They reportedly found tacit support in the Gujarat BJP unit which believed that the CM needed to be told sternly that he was not the supreme authority in Gujarat. The BJP by-election debacle merely became an excuse to launch a tirade against the chief minister. The Gujarat BJP reportedly did not want Keshubhai Patel to be sacked but they felt that Keshubhai had been ignoring all pleas for a better co-ordination between the party and the government and this time he needed to be given a shock treatment.

But apparently, their idea of shock treatment, as sources claim, went a bit far and "things did not remain in their control." In Delhi, the meagre Modi group and the irresolute Kashiram Rana group did make concerted efforts to get the CM sacked but national leaders of RSS were clear that there is no viable alternative to Keshubhai Patel at the moment.

Mr. Narendra Modi, who tried his best to boost his own slouchy image through this exercise, is believed to have wanted Keshubhai out immediately. But the Central leaders of RSS did not find logic in his argument. Interestingly, the Central RSS coterie themselves have found Mr. Modi’s track record in Gujarat "doubtful" and that no electoral arithmetic would support Mr. Modi.

Barring Ms Anandi Patel, a Cabinet minister in the Keshubhai government and a few scattered MLAs like Kantilal Amrutiya and Sunil Oza, Mr. Modi has no clout in Gujarat. According to top BJP sources, even top Gujarat BJP office bearers do not gel will with Mr. Modi. "The choice was between bad and evil. The BJP party does have grievances with Keshubhai Patel but they have more serious grievances with Mr. Modi, whose autocratic approach has been often criticised in the past," the source added.

Similarly,if the BJP had gone in for Kashriam Rana, the Patel lobby in Saurashtra would have been demoralised. If the BJP had gone in for Saurashtra Patel like Vallabh Kathiriya, it wouldn’t have done much good, for Mr. Kathiriya is not a state-level leader. At the same time, these two persons would have had to be elected within six months. The BJP would have had to organise two by-elections (one Legislative, one Parliamentary) and this exercise would have been difficult.

Interestingly, Mr. Madanlal Khurana, who had announced that a change in guard was not being ruled out, has not been approached by a single party or government member after the byelections, demanding the chief minister’s sacking. According to a source, the state BJP had been piqued by Keshubhai’s style of functioning and grabbed the by-election debacle as a platform to voice their grievances. "We never wanted Keshubhai to be sacked. But in Delhi, things did not remain in our control," a source said.

Republished from The Asian Age