GANDHINAGAR, July 23: Yet another mission to topple Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela's minority government in Gujarat, has been put into action by some disgruntled independent legislators with the help of few industrialists. This time the ambitious political opponents have given a far more dangerous twist to the game by introducing money bags.

According to the highly confidential information available with top leaders of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP), at least three or four independent legislators have been lured away to an unknown rendezvous in Ranthambore in neighbouring Rajasthan by an industrialist from Mumbai `to clinch a deal'. It is learnt that substantial money was being offered to each of the legislators who decided to side with political manipulators and a substantial reward is also in the offing for convincing others to join the new gang.

These legislators are reportedly in touch with other manageable legislators in Gujarat but their efforts have not met with any significant success so far, told the sources. They are mostly concentrating on independents but hardly four or five have reportedly showed willingness to support the coup against Vaghela.

It is learnt that Vaghela's one time friend and supporter Mahipatsinh Jadeja, a legislator from Gondal constituency in Rajkot, also reached Ranthambore on Tuesday. He reportedly had discussions with anti-Vaghela industrialists who were willing to `invest' for bringing back to the throne either the Bharatiya Janata Party or any other political outfit supported by the BJP.

It is said that the legislators are cashing in on the differences between Vaghela and Jadeja as the latter was unhappy with the chief minister's lack of support for Jadeja's son, who was being tried (now convicted with a life sentence) for murdering a legislator in Gondal. Anirudhsinh Jadeja was hounded by the police all over the state for months before he was arrested.

Mahipatsinh had stood by Vaghela during the times of crises and had played a major role in keeping Vaghela supporters in safe custody when BJP was desperately trying to win back some of them to foil Vaghela's attempt at forming the government.

Jadeja, a few weeks back, had tried the same plan but failed. He had then been taken to Mount Abu in Rajasthan along with three other independent MLAs and from there an unsuccessful operation to topple the Vaghela government was conducted. Earlier, Jadeja had bargained with Vaghela for accommodating some of the independents in the ministry. Though Vaghela had agreed to induct one of them into the Council of ministers, the independents had then failed to reach on consensus on a single name.

Sources told The Indian Express that a son of a former BJP Chief Minister was also active in this operation as he was spotted in Ranthambore. But senior BJP leaders deny any hand in any such covert operation. `` This government is already running on borrowed time...what is the need to dirty one's hands?'' remarked the leader.

The Vaghela government has survived each time it came face to face with a similar threat. The most serious of them all had come when 37 out of total 45 MLAs belonging to the Congress (which is supporting the government from outside along with 15 independents) had pressed for withdrawal of support last month. But they could not pass a resolution to this effect in the Congress legislative party meeting. A few weeks before that former Chief Minister Chhabildas Mehta had tried to pull the rug under Vaghela's feet but his move had fallen flat as other did not buy his belief.

On being asked how long his government will last under persistent political intrigues and manoeuvring, Vaghela said, ``Every minority party heading a government is bound to face problems but one thing is certain that no handful of vested interests can hijack my government.''

Urmilaben's moves

The political situation in Gujarat has hotted up with the Janata Dal (Gujarat) faction in the Congress, led by MP Urmilaben Patel, hob-nobbing with the BJP to dislodge the ten-month-old Shankarsinh Vaghela Government. Chief Minister Vaghela told mediapersons at Gandhinagar today that the JD faction allegedly had a clandestine meeting with BJP to destabilise his government. He said that he had already informed Pradesh Congress chief Prabodh Raval about the move and requested him to apprise Congress president Sitaram Kesri about the development.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.