Keshubhai Patel summoned to Delhi

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 25. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel, has been summoned here by the Bharatiya Janata Party high command. It is expected that a high-level meeting will be held here tomorrow to discuss issues after the poor showing of the party in the recent State by-elections.

While the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, and the BJP president, Mr. Jana Krishnamurthi, are certainly expected to be there, besides Mr. Patel, it is not yet clear whether the Prime Minister will come into the picture at this stage. Another meeting is expected to take place between Mr. Krishnamurthi and some Gujarat leaders later.

Security issues related to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. could also come up. (Jamnagar is the headquarters of the Western Air Command and the Rann of Kutch separates India from Pakistan). But the focus of the discussion will centre around the divisions within the State unit, the lack of purposive administration and the growing disenchantment of the people with the BJP rule in the State.

The party leaders here are of the view that certainly the central leadership will be telling Mr. Patel to pull up his socks and open his eyes to the reality that his popularity has been steadily sliding. The State unit could be asked to make a detailed assessment of the situation that led to a decisive defeat in Sabarmati, an Assembly segment that is part of Mr. Advani's Lok Sabha constituency, Gandhinagar.

Some in the BJP would like to believe that the results of the by- elections cannot be seen as a trend but the crushing defeat in the zila parishad, taluka and municipal-level elections earlier cannot be wished away. Privately, it is admitted that unless drastic steps are taken to stop the downslide, the party should be ready to hand over power in the State to the Congress when the Assembly elections take place in 2003.

If the BJP high command has to take steps like replacing the Chief Minister, it would have to do so latest by early next year, comfortably ahead of the Assembly elections. But before that, a series of consultations can be expected on the person who can replace Mr. Patel with the least disturbance to the caste equation. Carrying the various factions in the State unit will also be important for it will hardly be useful to foist a new chief minister and be surprised by a rebellion in the ranks. But the BJP definitely needs to be seen as doing something - at stake is not only power in the State but also the prestige of Mr. Advani, who was in Gujarat today to visit the Somnath temple. He goes there every year to mark the anniversary of his famous rath- yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990.

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