Ahmedabad:
The civic polls in Gujarat is a crisis situation for many political leaders in the state. And the most expedient thing they can do in a such a situation is to run away.
The BJP and Congress officials did just that, literally!
Party workers flocked to their respective party offices on Friday afternoon to express their dissent over allocation of tickets in their wards, only to find them locked! They raised their voices at being 'shut out,' but their pleas were only heard by mediapersons - and police deployed outside the BJP's offices in Khanpur.
And the run-up to civic polls in Gujarat isn't any less filmy. There were rumours that Dipti Seth, one of the BJP probables from Isanpur ward, received a threat that she would be locked up in a room if she didn't withdraw her name. But there's no smoke without fire. BJP workers were dissatisfied with Seth's selection. To appease them, she said she will not contest election. But she later changed her mind.
It was a "minority" show for a "majority" leader at the BJP party office in Khanpur on Friday. A group of people belonging to the minority community from Vejalpur appealed to party leaders that Jayvantsinh Vaghela should be given ticket from the ward. To show their strong support, they even handed over to the leaders a memorandum signed in blood. "Jayvantsinh is a very popular leader in our area and he is always available for us whenever we are in trouble," said Anwar Hussain, a resident of Vejalpur. The group also shouted slogans in support of Vaghela.
Senior BJP leader LK Advani is likely to discuss the current political scene in Gujarat in view of the civic elections. Advani took out a nationwide rally for the Ayodhya issue on September 25, 1990, from Somnath and has been visiting the state every year on September 25 since then.
When straight talk didn't seem to do any good, BJP dissidents decided to scare party leaders into reconsidering their decision. Rita Shah, daughter of city BJP president Rakesh Shah, was threatened by two youths in protest against the allocation of tickets for the civic elections. Rita, a student of BK school of business management, was at the Gujarat university campus when two motorcycle-borne young men approached her and said: "Tell your father to use his mind while allocating tickets." Rita told the Gujarat University police of the incident, and although no formal complaint was lodged, security at the university has been beefed up.
On a day of dramatic switches in political affiliations, BJP's loss turned out to be Congress's gain. Both Dipak Bhatt and Kantilal Patel (Ghiya) are believed to have joined the Congress. Bhatt handed in his resignation to party leaders at the BJP office in Khanpur on Thursday evening, saying that he was upset because city BJP chief Rakesh Shah had selected his cousin as the party's candidate from Paldi. Bhatt has been representing this ward for the past four years. "I have resigned to protest BJP's nepotism," he stated. So much for party loyalty!
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