10-11-2007, 09:32 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Setback for BJP rebels in Gujarat </b>
Pioneer.com
Kumar Uttam | New Delhi
Keshubhai disapproves their plan to join Congress
Rebel BJP leaders from Gujarat have received a major setback with their patriarch and former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel making it clear that he did not approve their plan to walk into the Congress camp.Â
Keshubhai, whose differences with Chief Minister Narendra Modi are well known, has reportedly told rebel leaders that he cannot afford to snap ties with the BJP in the last stage of his political carrier and side with the Congress, a party that he has always been opposed to in the State.
Rebel leaders, including former Union Minister Vallabh Bhai Kathiria (MP), former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta and former State Home Minister Goardhan Zadaphia had called on Keshubhai at his official residence in New Delhi on Thursday to persuade him to walk out of the party along with them.
With Keshubhai turning back on the rebels, the BJP is upbeat. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley who is confidant that it would not make any impact on the party's electoral prospects in Gujarat even in case the rebels walk out of the party, told The Pioneer, "<b>We are confidant that the BJP would bounce back to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi. There is no crisis."</b>
<b>The senior BJP leader who is also the election in-charge of Gujarat said it was a peculiar situation that rebels were saying they could remain in the BJP or might join the Congress even as the option to float a "third front" was open. "Such a bizarre statement is not even worth commenting</b>," Jaitley remarked.
Well-placed sources have confirmed that Keshubhai has also disappointed the rebel leaders who wanted that he should come out in open to support the Congress or the third front, particularly when the State Assembly election has been announced.
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Pioneer.com
Kumar Uttam | New Delhi
Keshubhai disapproves their plan to join Congress
Rebel BJP leaders from Gujarat have received a major setback with their patriarch and former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel making it clear that he did not approve their plan to walk into the Congress camp.Â
Keshubhai, whose differences with Chief Minister Narendra Modi are well known, has reportedly told rebel leaders that he cannot afford to snap ties with the BJP in the last stage of his political carrier and side with the Congress, a party that he has always been opposed to in the State.
Rebel leaders, including former Union Minister Vallabh Bhai Kathiria (MP), former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta and former State Home Minister Goardhan Zadaphia had called on Keshubhai at his official residence in New Delhi on Thursday to persuade him to walk out of the party along with them.
With Keshubhai turning back on the rebels, the BJP is upbeat. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley who is confidant that it would not make any impact on the party's electoral prospects in Gujarat even in case the rebels walk out of the party, told The Pioneer, "<b>We are confidant that the BJP would bounce back to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi. There is no crisis."</b>
<b>The senior BJP leader who is also the election in-charge of Gujarat said it was a peculiar situation that rebels were saying they could remain in the BJP or might join the Congress even as the option to float a "third front" was open. "Such a bizarre statement is not even worth commenting</b>," Jaitley remarked.
Well-placed sources have confirmed that Keshubhai has also disappointed the rebel leaders who wanted that he should come out in open to support the Congress or the third front, particularly when the State Assembly election has been announced.
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