Describing Narendra Modi as 'propaganda-hungry', Gujarat Parivartan Party President Keshubhai Patel on Monday alleged that the chief minister observed 'Sadabhavna' fasts across the state and also wooed the Tatas to set up Nano project in Gujarat only to boost his image.
According to a survey carried out across Gujarat, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, will win the forthcoming state assembly elections comfortably. The survey, jointly conducted by a news channel and a weekly magazine, predicts that the BJP will get 50 per cent of the total votes.
Long caught between two polarities, Gujarat's electoral field has expanded to include a third party with the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the opposition Congress that has lost ground but still has significant presence.
Former Union Minister and dissident BJP leader Kashiram Rana, who recently joined Keshubhai Patel's Gujarat Parivartan Party, passed away early Friday morning, party sources said. He was 76.
Maha-Gujarat Janta party president Gordhan Zadafia on Wednesday announced merger of his outfit with Keshubhai Patel's newly-formed Gujarat Parivartan Party in Ahmedabad.
All the sadhus have unanimously put the blame squarely on the police and district administration for Sunday night's gruesome tragedy in which seven persons were killed and 50-odd were injured in a stampede near Bhavnath at the foothills of Mount Girnar in Junagadh during the Mahashivaratri Mela.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's march towards a two-third majority was halted by the presence of Keshubhai Patel's party in Saurashtra and the saffron outfit suffered reverses in Chief Minister Narendra Modi's own backyard of north Gujarat.
Election Commission on Thursday slapped a notice on former Chief Minister and Gujarat Parivartan Party president Keshubhai Patel for violating election code of conduct while going to a polling booth with a pilot car.
Gujarat Parivartan Party supremo Keshubhai Patel on Thursday said the people would vote for a change in the state, and added that Chief Minister Narendra Modi would be thrown out of power after the assembly polls.
Gujarat is likely to witness a triangular fight in this year's assembly polls, as dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leaders -- opposed to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and led by former chief minister Keshubhai Patel -- are set to float their own party.
Dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel will meet senior party leaders in Delhi on Tuesday to raise a pitch of his campaign against state Chief Minister Narendra Modi, sources said.
"I had earlier said in a function of the Patidar community that my community is living under fear, but today after reading newspapers I have come to the conclusion that entire Gujarat is living under fear," Patel said in Ahmedabad.
Announcing the launch of the party, Keshubhai said that the GPP would contest all the 182 seats in the state assembly election slated to be held by the end of this year.
Former Chief Minister of Gujarat Keshubhai Patel flew into New Delhi from Ahmedabad on Tuesday and had meetings with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Dr Murali Manohar Joshi.
Essar Oil, which was building a 9-million tonne per annum crude oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, was supposed to complete it by April 2003, so that it would be qualified to get the benefits of the sales tax incentives.
Residents of Vadnagar, the native village of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday congratulated him as he completed a decade in office.
With time on his side, that Hardik Patel will one day occupy the top spot in Gujarat is a no-brainer. But the BJP doesn't like rabble-rousers.
Keshubhai Patel, who was the rallying point for the detractors of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and Rana were accused of 'sabotaging' the party's poll prospects through their public statements, which 'helped' the ruling BJP's political rivals in the state.
The meeting is being held purportedly to discuss ways and means of raising the issues of Hinduism and the Ram Temple at Ayodhya in the coming weeks.
Senior BJP leader Keshubhai Patel addressed the gathering in Surat over mobile phone from Los Angeles in the United States.
Seven members are retiring from Maharashtra followed by six each from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, five each from West Bengal and Bihar, four each from Orissa and Gujarat.
These resignations came a day after BJP high-command issued notices to Patel and Rana and suspended two other leaders, Vallabh Kathiria and Somabhai Patel -- 'for hurting the party's interests' during the Gujarat elections.
Modi had won the last election in Gujarat with the active support of RSS and its allies like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. However, with the organisation deciding to remain aloof this time around, things might turn out be different for the BJP.
He portrayed Modi as a leader against the interests of farmers and asked them to vote for a pro-farmers party.
The defiance by the young turks has perturbed the state BJP leadership. The only thing they are saying at present is that they are taking note of the actions of the dissidence.
Modi men meet Keshubhai after Delhi trip
Keshubhai arrives in Delhi, BJP rules out replacement of Modi
'I had a brief telephonic talk with Vajpayee and told him about my views about the party's problems,' Patel said.
He said that he would brief the BJP high command about the "prevailing atmosphere of fear" in Gujarat.
Media persons besieged Modi as he arrived at the Ambedkar stadium, renamed Deendayal Nagar, to attend the meeting. He, however, declined to talk to the media.
"It is an internal matter. We will meet and sort out the issues," Advani told the weekly BJP parliamentary party meeting.
Undaunted by Bharatiya Janata Party president L K Advani's praise of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, party rebels of the state on Wednesday met a number of senior leaders as part of their efforts to seek Modi's ouster.
Keshubhai hopeful about a leadership change in Gujarat
In a surprise development, senior Bharatiya Janata P Leader Murli Manohar Joshi, a well-known critic of L K Advani, is understood to have advised Gujarat dissidents to meet the party president and seek redressal of their grievances.
'If he loses Gujarat, then he has a major, major, problem coming up in 2024.'
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