At Waghodia, some 50 members of a minority community joined the party, they added.

At the `Atal Kranti Sammelan' organised by the party's youth wing on Monday evening, Janata Dal member and M S University senate member Jung Bahadur Rajput joined the BJP. Among others to follow suit were several class and faculty representatives of the University, and former leaders of the University students' union.

Ten village panchayat members had switched from the Congress to the BJP in Chhani, sources said, adding that former Bodeli MLA Karansinh Raj was expected to join the party soon.

In his speeches, the chief minister said the pro-BJP wave was obvious all over the country. ``Opinion polls indicate the masses are annoyed with the Congress because of the negative role it had played after losing power'', he said. He referred to the Chandra Sekhar, V P Singh, Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and Vajpayee governments in this context.

At the youth convention, he described how the inflation rate had fallen during BJP rule, and underlined various youth-oriented schemes floated by the party. Youth wing chief Amit Thakkar said that after winning at Kargil, the time had come to win at the hustings.

Later, talking to a section of the press, Patel expressed hope that the BJP would bag all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the State. His party would poll 60 per cent of the votes; the rest could go to the Congress, he said, adding that the Congress-RJP merger would not affect the BJP's prospects.

Seating problem
BJP members and organisers of a yagna were put in an embarrassing position when Jail Minister Jaspal Singh took offence at being seated in the third row while Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, Raopura MLA Yogesh Patel, Employment Minister Bhupendra Lakhawala, Mayor Umakant Joshi and city party unit chief Krishnakant Shah occupied the first row. It took a great deal of coaxing by the CM to bring Singh on to the first row.