Gujarat Cong. faction feud hots up

By Our Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR, JUNE 29. The Gujarat Pradesh Congress(I) committee president, Mr C. D. Patel, along with some other senior leaders of the party will be leaving for Delhi tomorrow, armed with the signatures of 188 of the 210 office-bearers, Members of Parliament, Members of the State Assembly and others demanding disciplinary action against the former External Affairs Minister, Mr. Madhavsinh Solanki, and some of his supporters.

Mr Patel told presspersons here today that he and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Mr. Amarsinh Chaudhary, would be meeting Ms. Sonia Gandhi, and the AICC(I) secretary in- charge of Gujarat affairs, Ms. Prabha Rao, in Delhi tomorrow evening to present the view points of the signatories to the memoranda favouring action against the Solanki faction leaders.

About a dozen leaders of the Solanki faction are also reaching Delhi by tomorrow to represent their side including demanding action against the PCC(I) president for his ``unprovoked and unlawful act'' in suspending four leaders of the faction two days before the convention organised by the group here on Tuesday. They would also point out that the PCC(I) president acted beyond his jurisdiction as all the four leaders were AICC(I) delegates and failed to issue even show cause notices before suspending them. Mr. Patel denied that there was any ``signature campaign'' launched by the official faction against the Solanki group but claimed that the leaders ``on their own'' contacted him to give their view points on learning about his trip to Delhi to present a detailed account of what transpired at Tuesday's convention of the Solanki faction.

Clearly indicating that the situation had reached a point of showdown between the official and the Solanki factions, Mr. Patel claimed that the signatories to the memoranda, demanding either expulsion from the party of Mr. Solanki and some of his supporters or suspension, included eight of the nine party Members of Parliament, 47 of the 57 members of the State Assembly, 15 of the 17 PCC(I) vice-presidents, 14 of the 18 general secretaries, 15 of the 16 secretaries, six of the eight official spokesmen of the party, presidents of all the four frontal organisations and convenors of all the seven party cells, 31 of the 35 district unit presidents, and about 38 other senior leaders of the party.

The signatories had demanded that stern disciplinary action should be taken against all those who used ``filthy language'' in the convention against the party's State and Central leaders as well as leader like Mr. Solanki who remained a mute spectator to such use of abusive language and were responsible for organising the parallel convention encouraging factionalism within the party. They have also signed in approval of the suspension of the four Solanki faction leaders before the convention, including his MLA son, Mr Bharat Solanki.

Mr. Patel also claimed that some of the leaders like the former Chief Minister, Mr. Shankarsinh Waghela, who is now away in the United States, have telephonically communicated their approval for disciplinary action against the Solanki faction leaders.

Mr. Patel as well as Mr. Chaudhary declined to divulge their own views on the issue and said it would be communicated to the party president and other AICC(I) leaders when they meet them tomorrow. But Mr. Patel gave a clear indication that the official faction was in no mood for a compromise with the Solanki faction unless forced by the high command.

He also claimed that even a few others who could not sign the memoranda did not mean that they supported Mr. Solanki. Some of them could not reach the PCC(I) office here today to append their signatures, but were ``very much for action against the Solanki faction leaders.''

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