NDTV.com:
Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya will be famous for some time as the gun-toting MP from Gujarat. He has a number of criminal cases against him. Ironically, he represents Porbandar in Lok Sabha.
The 54-year-old Congress MP has RSS roots and is part of the Shankarsinh Vaghela package deal that the Congress invited over to its side when Mr Vaghela split the BJP in 1996. While his party wonders today how to undo that little footnote in its Gujarat history of the last two decades, it will also be heaving a sigh of relief that Mr Radadiya is only an MP, not a Central minister. Till last month, he was being talked about as a possible inclusion in the Manmohan Singh council of ministers to represent the important Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Stacked against him were his RSS origins, but Mr Radadiya has also proved to be a very useful organiser for the Congress; he belongs to the Leuva Patel community and organises big crowds for rallies of the Congress' big leaders.
The image of Mr Radadiya striding menacingly and brandishing a gun at a hapless toll booth attendant in Gujarat, from CCTV footage being continuously played on national television, will not fade soon from public memory. Neither will the arrogance of his repeated assertion that he is an MP. That pride in his designation can be explained perhaps by the fact that Mr Radadiya is a first time MP. But he has been a five-time MLA in the Gujarat Assembly starting 1990.
The Porbandar MP has the reputation of being a firebrand politician. Last year, when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi took his Sadbhavana fast to Porbandar, Mr Raddaiya countered it with a parallel "Satkarma" fast contending that he would draw more crowds. A promise he kept when he mobilised around a lakh people to the venue. He also managed to get all the top leaders of the Congress, who have otherwise been at loggerheads, onto the same platform at the satkarma programme.
Mr Radadiya, who holds a BA degree, lists himself a political and social worker in his official bio-data, that last detail slightly at odds with his indignation today that "a man who earns Rs 100" had the temerity to stop an MP at the Vadodara toll booth. He is married to Chetna Ben and has two sons, one of whom is an MLA.
The 54-year-old Congress MP has RSS roots and is part of the Shankarsinh Vaghela package deal that the Congress invited over to its side when Mr Vaghela split the BJP in 1996. While his party wonders today how to undo that little footnote in its Gujarat history of the last two decades, it will also be heaving a sigh of relief that Mr Radadiya is only an MP, not a Central minister. Till last month, he was being talked about as a possible inclusion in the Manmohan Singh council of ministers to represent the important Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Stacked against him were his RSS origins, but Mr Radadiya has also proved to be a very useful organiser for the Congress; he belongs to the Leuva Patel community and organises big crowds for rallies of the Congress' big leaders.
The image of Mr Radadiya striding menacingly and brandishing a gun at a hapless toll booth attendant in Gujarat, from CCTV footage being continuously played on national television, will not fade soon from public memory. Neither will the arrogance of his repeated assertion that he is an MP. That pride in his designation can be explained perhaps by the fact that Mr Radadiya is a first time MP. But he has been a five-time MLA in the Gujarat Assembly starting 1990.
The Porbandar MP has the reputation of being a firebrand politician. Last year, when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi took his Sadbhavana fast to Porbandar, Mr Raddaiya countered it with a parallel "Satkarma" fast contending that he would draw more crowds. A promise he kept when he mobilised around a lakh people to the venue. He also managed to get all the top leaders of the Congress, who have otherwise been at loggerheads, onto the same platform at the satkarma programme.
Mr Radadiya, who holds a BA degree, lists himself a political and social worker in his official bio-data, that last detail slightly at odds with his indignation today that "a man who earns Rs 100" had the temerity to stop an MP at the Vadodara toll booth. He is married to Chetna Ben and has two sons, one of whom is an MLA.
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