How Keshubhai was vanquished Thursday, October 4, 2001
AHMEDABAD: In the end, there was no deal. The man who, on Tuesday night, was roaring that party legislators would elect their leader, gave in tamely on Wednesday.
What happened in the intervening period of one night? Lots, it seems. For one, Narendra Modi, realising that a rebellion was brewing, swung into action. He was able to convince three important Patel MLAs that they had no future outside the BJP and Keshubhai was no Shankar Singh Vaghela to be able to split the party and carry his plans through. These three MLAs then drove down to the CM’s house in the middle of the night to convince Keshubhai of the futility of his plans.
Simultaneously, Modi despatched two BJP MPs and two rebel ministers to Suresh Mehta. The message was same: what Keshubhai could not do with a solid majority in the assembly, he could not do without the support of the party high command.
Interestingly, Modi did all this manipulation sitting in Delhi. He was supposed to reach Ahmedabad on Tuesday evening but gave up his plans on learning that Keshubhai supporters would greet him with black flags and slogans. Ultimately, Modi came on Wednesday morning.
It was also conveyed to Keshubhai that if he refused to step down, some dealings made by his close relatives would be exposed. Who conveyed these and at whose behest is not known. But the name of some of Keshubhai’s relatives have off and on crept up in connection with dubious deals. This was in addition to what the party high command conveyed to him: step down or else the bosses would not be averse to even creating conditions that would lead to the dissolution of the assembly.
Keshubhai, after his return from Delhi on Tuesday night, confabulated with nine ministers who threw their lot behind him and promised support from ‘‘40 MLAs’’. This included his finance minister, agriculture minister, IT minister and information minister among others. But in spite of this support, the happenings in the night convinced Keshubhai that discretion would be the better part of valour.
By morning, when high command representatives Kushbhau Thakre and Madan Lal Khurana arrived, Keshubhai had all but given up. He was looking for a face-saver and, finding that he had burnt all his bridges, settled for even Modi ‘‘seeking his blessings in public’’. Modi did better; he went and touched Keshubhai’s feet!
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
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