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Vajpayee to fire Modi after LS debate

Top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh met on Saturday and decided that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would have to go considering his failure to control the communal violence in the state, a top home ministry official said on Saturday.

The decision was taken in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at whose Race Course Road residence the meeting was held, he told rediff.com

RSS stalwarts like K S Sudarshan, Madan Das Devi and Seshadari Chari attended the meeting, the official, who did not wish to be identified, said.

BJP president K Jana Krishnamurthy, who was present at the meeting, told the leaders that during his recent visit to Gujarat, some state ministers had told him that Modi's continuance as chief minister had become "untenable", he said.

The majority of the Gujarat ministers had told the BJP president that Modi had become a liability since the party leadership had ruled out holding elections in the state in the aftermath of the communal riots, he added.

"That is the main argument adduced by the Gujarat ministers, which spurred Prime Minister Vajpayee to tell Krishnamurthy and the RSS leaders that Modi would have to go since his continuance kept triggering a storm of protests in the country and abroad," the official said.

"The indications are that Modi will have to quit office after the government faces the censure motion on Gujarat, which has been sponsored by the opposition parties. The chances are that he will cease to become the Gujarat CM any day after April 30 [when the motion is taken up in the Lok Sabha]," he pointed out.

He said although the prime minister had told the meeting that he had snubbed foreign missions based in India for "interfering" on the Gujarat issue, the pressure to remove Modi was mounting.

RSS spokesman M G Vaidya, for once, was guarded when asked whether the issue was discussed during the meeting.

"I am not aware, I can get back to you after talking to our chief [Sudarshan]," he said.

Vajpayee's reasoning was that the opposition would be demoralised once the government won the debate in the Lok Sabha, he said.

The NDA would have a lot of advantage if the BJP leadership removed Modi after the Gujarat debate. It would also pave the way for the continuance of the National Democratic Alliance for the full five-year term, the official quoted Vajpayee as saying.

Speculation is rife that Modi would be brought to the Centre for a ministerial slot. That is why the prime minister has held his much-anticipated Cabinet reshuffle in abeyance, the official indicated.

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