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Modi unlikely to contest from Rajkot again

Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is 'unlikely' to contest from Rajkot again, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader told rediff.com.

Modi won the Rajkot assembly seat in February 2002 in a byelection.

"Modi is eyeing the Ellisbridge seat in Ahmedabad," one of Modi's ministerial colleagues said.

In October 2001, when Modi was sent from Delhi to replace Keshubhai Patel as the chief minister, he had asked the Ellisbridge Member of Legislative Assembly and then Minister of State for Revenue Haren Pandya to vacate the seat in his favour.

Pandya had publicly defied Modi's dictate forcing him to go to Rajkot.

A BJP MP said, "Modi was promised that action will be taken against Pandya after the byelection, but in less than two days the Godhra incident happened and any action against Pandya could not be considered because of the rioting that followed it."

Modi now wants the party to deny Pandya a ticket to contest the coming assembly election, BJP sources said.

They added that Pandya, however, has the backing of Ahmedabad-based Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Madhu Kulkarni and former chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

The sources said that Modi's 'interest in Ellisbridge' has already been discussed at an informal meeting of the party's top brass in Gandhinagar, adding that the party might face an 'internal upheaval' if Modi insists on contesting from Ellisbridge.

A BJP MP from Saurashtra said, "We believe that if Pandya manages to retain his Ellisbridge seat, Modi would then be zeroing in on Patan, Unjha or Vijapur assembly seats. If he opts to contest from Rajkot seat, it would not give him enough time to travel extensively in Gujarat because in the February byelection the Patel voters had given Modi the jitters."

Ahmedabad's six assembly seats are considered the 'most secure' BJP seats in Gujarat.

Modi, however, was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him.

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