Keshubhai Patel, who ushered in BJP rule in Gujarat
in the 90s and has revolted against CM Narendra Modi, has resigned from
the party and announced plans to launch a new outfit which he claims
would be the real BJP.
Addressing
a press conference in Gandhinagar on Saturday, the 83-year-old former
chief minister announced his decision along with the resignation of
Kanshiram Rana, a former Union minister, from the party."Kanshiram
Rana and I, who have served the party for the last 60 years, are very
sad to send our resignations, from the party that we have nurtured here,
to party president Nitin Gadkari. We are not switching the party but we
are going to form the real BJP," Keshubhai said.
The
former chief minister launched a stinging attack on Modi saying the
party had become a one-man outfit and gone far away from the principles
of the BJP.
The
poor and the middle class have become unhappy with the government and
Modi was keeping away from everyone including the media to avoid
questioning, he said.
The
announcement by Patel, who was leading an anti-Modi group within the
state BJP ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections (due in December), was
expected for quite some time, and the formation of the new party would
result in a triangular fight.
Though
a powerful OBC leader during his heydays, what impact his departure
would have on the party remains to be seen since he has been
marginalised in the state politics for quite sometime now.In Gujarat,
considered the Hindutva forces' laboratory, Keshubhai had emerged as a
powerful leader of the numerically strong Patel community, which is the
backbone of BJP's support base.
The saffron party is in power in the state for the last 15 years."BJP
has not remained the real BJP which we had formed by working for the
last 50 years. This party has become a one- man party and gone far away
from its principals," Keshubhai said, targeting Modi. "I will tomorrow
announce the formation of our new party," he added.
"The present BJP has gone miles away from democracy and has become insensitive towards the people," Keshubhai said.
In
the last 10 years, people were suffering, decisions of courts were not
being respected, women and children were suffering from malnutrition,
and if the parents of missing children wanted to meet the chief
minister, they were turned away, he said."In
this situation, I cannot remain silent and be a mute spectator, and
that is the reason I have decided to form a new party which will be the
real BJP," he said.Modalities
of forming the new party were being worked out, he said. Sources close
to Keshubhai said the new party would contest all the 182 Assembly
seats.
Keshubhai was unceremoniously removed as Gujarat chief minister in 2001 by the BJP leadership; Modi replaced him."At
this ripe age, I am not forming a new party for grabbing power, as
people have given me enough. My only aim is to give a better alternative
to the people," Keshubhai said.
Rana, a powerful leader from Surat,
who was the union textile minister in the NDA government, said,
"Vajpayeeji had once told Modi to follow 'Raj-dharma', and inspired by
that, we have decided to follow 'Praja-Dharma'".
Keshubhai enjoys support of a section of the Sangh Parivar in Gujarat, including RSS 'pracharaks' and members of VHP.Former
minister of state for home in the Modi government, Gordhan Zadafia, who
later formed his own Maha-Gujarat Janta Party, had sometime ago said
that he would merge his outfit with Keshubhai's party.
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