As rebels fume at Keshubhai, he bides his time

It was billed as the possible nemesis of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

It was billed as the possible nemesis of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Under the patronage of former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, riding on a combination of Patidar angst and rural disgruntlement in Saurashtra, mostly against power reforms, the rebel factor had been in the making for a couple of years. It gained cadence in Rajkot with a five-lakh strong rally making observers see serious trouble for Modi only two months before the December polls.

Instead, it petered out in a whimper on counting day. So much so that only one of the BJP-rebels, who contested either as independents, or on a Congress ticket, managed to retain their seats. To rub it in, BJP bettered its 2002 tally in Saurashtra by four seats. The results have left the rebels scurrying for cover, their political future in doldrums, even hitting a possible dead end.

Left in the lurch, the younger of the rebels are cursing Keshubhai’s indecisiveness. They are perplexed as to how after allowing them to build a campaign around his name he failed to come out even once during the electioneering against Modi. “He tried to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds and we all have paid the price,” says one of the dejected rebels.

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Understandably, Keshubhai is mum, perhaps waiting with baited breath for high command’s reaction to his reply. Others simply vague, clueless and evasive.

The youngest of the rebels, Siddharth Parmar, was the most vocal and forthright. “If Modi has won despite our best efforts, it is clear that there were flaws in our strategy. There were also major flaws in our day-to-day tactics,” he admits.

Some of the rebels are now realising the folly of singling out Modi for abuses in their public addresses. “That might have been the mistake, as it gave an impression of Modi being victimised by a bunch, which was clearly not the case,” said one of the rebels.

A K Patel felt the need for reorienting the Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti, the umbrella body that was used to spearhead the anti-Modi campaign. “I am equally clueless. But we would meet soon to look into the results in detail. Perhaps we need to broadbase the Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti to include minorities, Adivasis and Dalits,” said the veteran leader.

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What does this mean for the state’s politics? One, having won almost two thirds of the seats in the Assembly, Modi is now truly the monarch of all he surveys in Gujarat.

With rebels demolished, and no leader of any stature to take on Modi in the opposition Congress, the Gujarat Chief Minister is likely to have smooth sailing for some time to come.

Two, it means the Congress needs some serious churning if it does not want its name obliterated from Gujarat as well. Interestingly, the party lost all Assembly constituencies where Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi campaigned.

For the rebels, it’s a long road to nowhere for now.