Advani summons Modi detractors to Delhi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief LK Advani has decided to take on the Gujarat dissidence issue head on and has summoned the three main dissident leaders of the state""former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, Kanshiram Rana and Suresh Mehta ""for a meeting here on March 31.

The common feeling was that the denial of a US visa to Chief Minister Narendra Modi had earned him a reprieve from dissidence. But the fact that these three key leaders stayed away from the Swabhiman Rally called by Modi and attended by Advani in Ahmedabad recently meant that the trouble remained real.

Apart from that, dissident activities during the Budget session of the Assembly where the Modi detractors had tried to raise the banner of revolt against the chief minister's style of functioning has also harmed the image of the party.

According to top BJP sources, part of the problem is also the fact that Modi himself is rather oblivious to concerns of workers and the top leadership.

A senior Gujarat leader said when MLAs visited the chief minister with grievances, Modi insisted on meeting them along with senior bureaucrats, "which shows Modi trusts his officers more than his own partymen."

In fact, not just his Gujarat MLAs, even the BJP central leadership appears fed up with him.

"The central leadership too has repeatedly been ignored by Modi. He had been asked to adjust a few MLAs and expand his Cabinet, but he had refused, making the issue more and more complicated," said a top BJP leader.

The matter frequently came up during the current Budget Session of Parliament, with Rana and Keshubhai Patel, both MPs holding a series of meetings with Advani.

Advani, anxious to avoid the situation that occurred last August when dissident leaders turned up in Delhi under full media glare, had said he would be visiting Gujarat, advising them to stay away from Delhi.

"Advani was supposed to meet dissidents in Ahmedabad when he was to go to inaugurate the statue of slain BJP leader Haren Pandya, however, certain controversial remarks made by Pandya's father stopped him. Therefore the meeting has been rescheduled for March 31," said a senior Gujarat leader.

The issue of who would be the next Gujarat BJP chief is also likely to be decided in the meeting. The front runner for the post is another Modi-baiter Vallabhai Katheria.

But the Gujarat chief minister has had the most fortuitous escapes till now. When former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made negative comments on him, the RSS stepped in to save him, saying that his image among their core constituency was good.

Even now, the US visa issue has protected him somewhat. However, Gujarat dissidents say that his day of reckoning is finally here.