HVK Archives: Behind the curtain, Vaghela is lost
Behind the curtain, Vaghela is lost - Indian Express
Bishan Kumar
()
5 September 1996
Title : Behind the curtain, Vaghela is lost
Author : Bishan Kumar
Publication : Indian Express
Date : September 5, 1996
EVEN before the verdict is pronounced on the fortnight-
long imbroglio involving the State Govenment, the main
architect of the rebellion, Shankersinh Vaghela, stands a
loser. Worried by lack of support, Vaghela is now trying
to sell the impression that he is not interested in
capturing power at this point of time.
Though armed with the highly controversial ruling of
deputy Speaker Chandubhai Dabhi. Vaghela supporters are
preparing, for a battle in the State Assembly, which will
most likely, result in a debacle for them.
Dabhi had on Tuesday given the splinter group of the BJP,
led by former Industries Minister Dilip Parikh, the much-
needed teeth, but they in the ultimate reckoning, will
not be able to get big enough a chunk of the BJP's
legislative body to damage the government.
Parikh admits that he has lost those 18 MLAs who have
ditched the group for carrots dangled by the ruling
party. Worse still, one more MLA, Karansinh Raj from
Broach, has reportedly crossed over to Suresh Mehta,
leaving Parikh with only 27 legislators.
"With this number we cannot pull down the government, far
less form one," laments a Vaghela supporter. Another
reasons, "But we had never thought of forming a
government. Our purpose is to mobilise the people
against the wrongs of the BJP Government and the party,
and establish ourselves as an effective political outfit
in the days to come."
>From his not-known-to-many camp in Gandhinagar, Vaghela
is reportedly telling his supporters in the Assembly that
they should not waste their energy trying to secure power
because they have lost the first round of the fight with
Mehta. Instead, his plan is that all efforts should be
towards establishing mass contact and prepare to face the
people if and when time demands.
Not long ago, Vaghela would unhesitatingly concede that
he was not a hypocrite and all his efforts were aimed at
gaining power.
But recent sermons have created an impression that
Vaghela is a changed man; changed out of compulsion from
a power seeker to a mass leader.
Vaghela's main strategist and national coordinator,
Vishnu Pandya, denies that Vaghela was ever interested in
power in the first round of his action plan. He says,
"His (Vaghela) plan has all along been to attain power
through a people's movement. His target is the next
election and not any short-term gain. Moreover, whatever
is happening in the State Assembly is between BJP and the
Maha Gujarat Janata Party, of which Vaghela is no more a
part."
But an independent assessment of whether Vaghela has been
able to make any serious impact leaves one with the
interesting impression that much to the chagrin of
Vaghela and his men, the ruling party apparatus is
largely intact at all levels.
At the State level, the organisation has received minor
bruises with one former state vice president Somabhai
Patel and former chairman of state-owned Gujarat Alkalies
and Chemicals Limited Narsinh Padiyar joining Vaghela's
bandwagon.
Even at the level of local self governments, beside Surat
Municipal Corporation, no more have fallen in the rebel
hands. Out of the total 468 corporators in the six
municipal corporations. 402 belonged to the BJP and till
now only 5 corporators from Baroda have been expelled for
their presence in the August 20 Mahasammelan.
Of the 19 district panchayats, only one (Kheda) has
fallen into the hands of the rebel faction. The BJP had
625 district panchayat members of whom about 40 have
crossed over to the Vaghela faction.
Out of 154 BJP ruled taluka panchayats (of total 183 in
the State), Vaghela supporters have not been able to
capture any.
There are total 3,785 BJP members in taluka panchayats
and only about 30 members have joined hands with the
rebels.
Most of the crowd around Vaghela consists of middle-level
leaders of no substantial base among the people. For
instance, people such as Natwarlal Shah alias Natu Mama,
Dattaji Chirandas and Gopal Solanki.
Leaders such as veteran RSS leader from Saurashtra Chiman
Shukla and former state unit chief Kashiram Rana did make
some initial noises of protest against the ruling
leadership, but have not declared support for Vaghela.
Parikh and his men, however, still believe that in the
final rounds of the battle, a large number of leaders
will cross the floor to their side.
Back
Top
|
