In an indication of the growing clout of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Bharatiya Janata Party, senior party leaders, including L K Advani and Arun Jaitley, have decided to attend his three-day fast starting this Saturday for peace, unity and harmony in the state.
Advani, who is a member of Parliament from Gandhinagar, and Jaitley, Rajya Sabha MP from the state, will leave for Ahmedabad on Saturday morning to attend the fast to be undertaken by Modi.
...Visitors coming from afar for the fast
Other Central leaders who will attend the fast are BJP General Secretary and Chief Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, spokesperson and MP Shahnawaz Hussain and general secretary Vijay Goel.
Modi is undertaking the fast days after the Supreme Court verdict asking the Special Investigation Team to file a final report or a chargesheet to be heard in a lower court in Gujarat in the Gulbarga Society riots case.
Central leaders Ananth Kumar and Balbir Punj (who is in-charge of Gujarat) are also likely to attend Modi's fast, party sources said. They are away in Singapore to participate in a seminar organised by Institute of South Asian Studies.
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'The fast is a political stunt'
After the Supreme Court order, the buzz is that this paves the way for Modi to play a larger role in the BJP at the national level. This includes Modi becoming the next party president or even be declared the next Prime Ministerial candidate of the party.
Meanwhile, Gordhanbhai Zadaphia, former Minister of State for Home in Modi's cabinet who fell out with him, called the three day fast a "political stunt".
"It is a political stunt and Congress leader Shankarsingh Vaghela is doing another stunt. They are making a mockery of a fast," he said. Vaghela has announced that he will also go on a fast to counter Modi's fast.
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