AHMEDABAD, Jan 25: In a surprise move, Gujarat Congress Committee President C D Patel requested the party High Command to snap off ties with Shankarsinh Vaghela's Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP), with whom the party has entered into an electoral alliance.Patel was personally against any electoral alliance with ``the corrupt and unreliable Vaghela'' but was forced to toe the party line after Sitaram Kesri and Pranab Mukherjee favoured the alliance, as the only way to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat.
With the change in political equations, the anti-Vaghela group has become active, especially as they enjoy the blessings of All India Congress Committee treasurer Ahmed Patel, who had been against supporting the Vaghela government. Led by him, 14 state Congress leaders discussed the alliance issue at Bardoli on Friday. Patel will meet Sitaram Kesri and Pranab Mukherjee later today in Delhi. He is believed to have intimated them about the growing dissent following the alliance with Vaghela from whom
the party had twice withdrawn support for his corrupt governance. ``This time Kesri and Mukherjee too sounded mellowed down on the Vaghela issue,'' a senior Congress leader and Patel confidant said. ``It seems the alliance will finally be called off,'' he said.
RJP refused to comment but a party spokesman said the final meeting for seat adjustment had been called off by Congress ``for reasons best known to them''.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
