Now, Keshubhai meets RSS leaders

Days after Chief Minister Narendra Modi called on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the outfit's headquarters in Nagpur, former chief minister and founder of Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) Keshubhai Patel and his confidant Gordhan Zadaphia on Tuesday visited the RSS and VHP headquarters in the state.

Patel later told reporters he had gone to Hedgewar Bhavan, the state RSS headquarters, to enquire about the health of senior pracharak Bhaskarrao Damle, who has not been keeping well. "As Modi is still an RSS worker, I am also an RSS worker," said Patel, who had earlier taken a swipe at Modi for visiting the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.

Damle had openly backed Keshubhai and had attended his meetings in which the former CM attacked Modi. Subsequently, he was dropped along with two others from the executive body of the RSS, a development the outfit termed "unrelated".

At the state VHP headquarters of Vanikar Bhavan, Patel was received by Gujarat VHP president Kaushik Mehta and general secretary Ranchhod Bharvad. Patel is said to have raised the issue of cow slaughter and accused Modi of giving away gauchar land to industrialists.

GPP leaders vowed to make anti-cow slaughter law more stringent with a provision for seizure of property and handing down life term for cow slaughter. They also said no industrialist would be given "an inch" of gauchar land.

Accusing Modi of placing himself above the party, Patel said: "It is like a relay race in a party where the baton must be passed on to the next player, but Modi just does not pass the baton."

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