Keshubhai ‘meets’ Modi but nothing official about it

After his declarations that there was a ‘‘mini-emergency in Gujarat’’ and that Chief Minister Narendra Modi could go &#1...

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After his declarations that there was a ‘‘mini-emergency in Gujarat’’ and that Chief Minister Narendra Modi could go ‘‘any time’’, former CM Keshubhai Patel was present with his bete noire at a Sunday meeting of the BJP.

The BJP had officially called the meeting of its state parliamentary board to discuss the forthcoming election to the Junagadh Municipal Corporation and by-elections to some Assembly seats, but sources said the real reason was to bring about a rapproachment between Keshubhai and Modi.

The meeting was to be held at Keshubhai’s residence, but later it was decided it would be held at Modi’s. Top BJP leaders, some ministers and MPs attended the meeting that lasted three hours.

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Among those who attended the meeting were Surat MP Kashiram Rana, Bhavnaben Chikalia, Anandiben Patel, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Ashok Bhatt and Suresh Gandhi.

Sources said Keshubhai kept to himself mostly, not going beyond monosyllables. Probably at the high command’s instruction, he refused to speak to the media later.

BJP state president Rajendrasinh Rana told reporters that the meeting discussed the municipal election, the by-election to the Maninagar Assembly seat and some other issues, which he refused to elaborate.

But Rana said there was no discussion on the guidelines issued to the state unit at the recent BJP national executive meeting held in Mumbai. He added that the ‘‘action plan’’ decided on in Mumbai would be discussed at another meeting, also in Gandhinagar, later in the evening. ‘‘We will discuss an action plan as per the guidelines given to us at the national executive,’’ said Rana, adding that all talk of factionalism in the party was ‘‘baseless’’.

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It was learnt that the meeting decided that BJP legislator Mahendra Mashru would contest the corporation polls in Junagadh and, should the BJP win, be made the Mayor.