Infighting in Gujarat Cong begins with return of Patel, Solanki

Infighting in Gujarat Cong begins with return of Patel, Solanki
BASHIR PATHAN

GANDHINAGAR, JULY 8: Healthy competition is always good. But what the Gujarat Congress would shortly witness is a cut-throat battle for supremacy. Two rival factions of the party, with the return of their leaders -- Ahmed Patel and Madhavsinh Solanki -- to state politics, are getting ready to hold separate conventions to garner support.

Determined to take on the party-rebels after giving up the top party post of party treasurer, Ahmed Patel arrived at Ahmedabad on Saturday. His supporters accorded him a grand reception. Stung by persistent attacks on him by the Solanki faction, the beleagured Patel has already declared ``to fight it out''.

While Solanki-supporters have decided to go ahead with taluka and district-level meets of the Congress `grass-root workers', the party's official group is reportedly planning regional conventions. ``We propose to divide the state into six different regions and hold conventions in each of them to rejuvenate the party organisation,'' a senior group leader told The Indian Express here on Friday.

``We will carry the fight right into Solanki's den, with the first convention being planned in his native-district of Kheda in Central Gujarat,'' he declared.

On the other hand, former minister and Solanki confidante Navin Shastri announced, ``We have decided to retain the banner of the Congress Parivar, under which the conventions will be held in each taluka and district to reactivate the grass-root workers and strengthen the organisation. We may begin either from Navsari, GPCC chief C D Patel's home-town, or Vapi in South Gujarat.''

It would be pertinent to note here that the Solanki loyalists had used the same banner during the `controversial' Gandhinagar convention on June 27.

Shastri claimed, ``There is nothing wrong in retaining the Congress Parivar banner during our proposed taluka and district-level meets, for this has been a democratic practice allowed in the party, right from the days of Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. The party workers have the right to express their dissent democratically through such a forum.''

Driving home his point, the Solanki loyalist recalled how he and his young co-workers had set up a Socialist Youth Forum in Gujarat to counter Indira Gandhi's detractors, following the Congress split in 1969.

``I was the convenor of the Forum, under which the party youth workers had then held demonstrations against the break-away faction (the Syndicate Congress)'s move to isolate Indiraji. Some of us had even been arrested. But the then PCC chief Vajubhai Shah had not suspended us from the party. And now, the party workers are being suspended for rallying behind Sonia Gandhi.''

The conventions being planned by both the rival factions may prove crucial in view of the impending elections to the six municipal corporations and panchayat bodies in the state. Though leaders of the two rival camps claim that this exercise is to counter the ruling BJP, it might prove counter-productive for the faction-ridden Congress, unless they bury the hatchet at the hustings.