BJP gains most from Cong, RJP imbroglio in Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR, OCT 3: The high drama of the past few days in Gujarat has taken its toll on both players, the Congress having lost credibility...

GANDHINAGAR, OCT 3: The high drama of the past few days in Gujarat has taken its toll on both players, the Congress having lost credibility and the Chief Minster Shankarsinh Vaghela’s RJP, though surviving the day, having had its authority eroded further. The biggest loser, however, could be the State itself, as the administration lies in a general state of drift.

Ironically, the only winner so far has been the RJP’s and Congress’s common foe, the BJP, which has seen its stock rising without any effort on its own part.

The Congress can take some solace in the fact that its bogey of withdrawal of support to the Vaghela Government had an almost crippling effect on the administrative set-up. As soon as the decision was made public, officers in the General Administration Department began the preparing for the post-withdrawal scenario.

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While all necessary arrangements had reportedly been made to facilitate the smooth transfer of power from the Chief Minister to the State Governor, the entire bureaucratic machinery was in a state of utter confusion and decisions were held back for some time by the heads of the departments. Today, 48 hours later, the situation is no better.

For Vaghela, there is small comfort in his success in making the six new districts functional from October 2, as he had pledged. Again, while he made appearances of respecting the Congress’ objections to the new districts by staying away from inauguration ceremonies, in another master-stroke he invited Congress state chief C D Patel to the inauguration function at Navsari. Patel is from Navsari and cannot stay away from the function without rubbing his people the wrong way.

The Congress, for its, part, has already lost heavily in terms of credibility for its prolonged procrastination on the withdrawal issue. CLP leader Amarsinh Chaudhry has reportedly launched a fresh offensive to destabilise Vaghela but he has far to go before the shine is back on the Congress visage.

In all this, the BJP leaders have been sitting in the gallery seats, watching the spectacle unfolding before them and waiting for the right moment to strike. A group of RJP legislators are reportedly trying to mend fences, but the BJP leadership has decided to become selective. Party leader L K Advani’s diktat “no turncoats for coming to power” is being followed zealously, at least for now, and hence no commitment has been extended to the `deserters’.

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The BJP has also alleged `dirty deals’ between the Congress high command and Vaghela for the inordinate delay by the Congress in withdrawing support to the Vaghela Government.

Former Chief Ministers Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta have openly come out charging the Congress high command for `underhand monetary deal’, which they claim was the reason for the delay over the support issue. Both these BJP leaders said here on Friday that it was surprising that though Kesri had announced amidst much fanfare that Vaghela would have to go if he is corrupt and characterless; he had failed to take any concrete action. Similarly, central observer Pranab Mukherjee who was in Gujarat to assess the political situation leaders had admitted that over 95 per cent of Gujarat Congressmen were in favour of withdrawing support to the Vaghela government.

The BJP leaders added that it was surprising that Mukherjee changed stance overnight after reaching Delhi and started soft pedalling the support issue.They alleged that the Congress hollow talk of withdrawal of support was based not on moral or ethical principals but on purely monetary basis. It is for the first time that the BJP leaders have come out in the open to castigate the Congress and MJP in such strong and unequivocal terms.

Describing Vaghela as the real villain in the entire game, Mehta and Patel alleged that his high command was not the people of Gujarat but AICC chief Sitaram Kesri whose single pone call could send the whole itinerary of the Chief Minister’s district restructuring haywire.