in a telephone conversation from Ahmedabad, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Chhabildas Mehta said, "Yesterday, we had a meeting of some Congress MLAs and all of them felt that by merely changing the chief minister's face from Shankarsinh Vaghela to Dilip Parikh it won't help the Congress party. In fact most of them felt the Congress needs a stake in the ministry."
In the 179 member assembly, the Congress has 44 MLAs while the RJP has 45 MLAs. The Parikh ministry survives with the support of the Congress Legislature Party and some Independent legislators.
"Nowhere in the world will you find a situation where the main supporting party is not in the ministry," says Mehta, "This was acknowledged by Union Human Resources Development Minister S R Bommai three days ago," he added.
"District and panchayat Congress leaders are disappointed that RJP ministers do not listen to their grievances when they visit Gandhinagar. The RJP is taking undue advantage of our party. They are making their party strong based on our support," Mehta said.
Parikh has nine cabinet ministers and four ministers of state. He was sworn in as chief minister on October 28, a day after Vaghela stepped down from office.
Though Vaghela had 40 ministers, his successor chose to appoint only 13 ministers.
Asked whether he had informed the Congress leadership in Delhi before making his demand, Mehta said, "I was in Delhi three days ago and have conveyed the sentiments of Congress MLAs to the high command. Kesriji told me to wait till November 13 and then take necessary steps."
Mehta dismissed rumours that the Congress would split in Gujarat, "There will be no repetition of Uttar Pradesh in Gujarat," he added.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party says it is keeping its options open on forming a government in Gujarat if Parikh is unable to prove his majority on Thursday.
Former state chief minister and senior BJP leader Keshubhai Patel told Rediff On The NeT, "So far no Congress leaders have approached us. If they approach us, we will see. We are keeping our options open to form the government."
With 76 MLAs, the BJP is the single largest party in the assembly; it needs only 14 MLAs to form a government.
On Friday, BJP spokesperson Yashwant Sinha had said that his party was making all possible attempts to ensure the fall of the state government.
"We are in contact with like-minded legislators of the Congress party," he said.
Has the party changed its stance on Gujarat? "Yes." Will it now seek to form a government in the state? "Yes."
The BJP's gameplan is to rope in as many Congress dissidents as possible, ensure the fall of the government via a no confidence motion, and then make its own bid for power.
"After a fresh appraisal of the situation in Gujarat, these are the options open to us," Sinha said.
Analysts are of the opinion that the aggressive BJP tone is intended to unnerve the Congress leadership and create a state of panic which, hopefully, will precipitate a split in Congress ranks.
Sinha's statement, to the effect that the BJP was moving ahead with its gameplan, assumes significance in light of party president Lal Kishinchand Advani's reference, in a recent interview, to a "secret pact" with Congress elements in Gujarat.
The flat out assault on the Congress, party sources indicate, owes to a change in the national political scenario. When the BJP government headed by Kalyan Singh succeeded in winning the vote of confidence in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress for its part decided to support the RJP government,
led by Parikh.
Final word from Keshubhai Patel. Asked if the BJP would stake its claim to form a government, he said, "If Governor Krishnapal Singh invites us to form the government, we will certainly try to form the government."
Tell us what you think of this report
