Narendra Modi rival Keshubhai won't renew BJP membership

Ahmedabad: Keshubhai Patel has decided not to renew his membership of the party. Mr Patel has been increasingly and publicly critical of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for being autocratic and intolerant of dissent. In a blog earlier this week, Mr Patel wrote that Gujarat today is worse off than India during the days of the Emergency.

Though he continues to be a primary member of the party, the move is being seen as a prelude to resigning from the party eventually, possibly on his birthday on July 24, when Mr Patel is expected to be at the centre of a convention being held by dissidents.

Mr Patel was replaced by Mr Modi as Chief Minister in 2001.

Along with other senior BJP leaders like Suresh Mehta, he has been complaining to the party's central leaders in Delhi of a growing chasm within the party over Mr Modi.  

Recently, posters critical of Mr Modi have appeared in different parts of Gujarat. Some of them praise Sanjay Joshi, another Modi rival, who was forced to resign from the party upon Mr Modi's insistence.    

Yesterday, posters in Rajkot lampooned Mr Modi as a Bollywood vamp, placed alongside famous on-screen villainesses like Lalita Pawar and Shashikala.