Date:30/03/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/03/30/stories/2005033012731100.htm

National

Modi meets Vajpayee

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 29. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, met the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for about 45 minutes this evening.

Although officially the meeting was described as a "courtesy call," party sources indicated that several thorny issues connected to dissidence in Gujarat against Mr. Modi's leadership were discussed as also the recent controversies related to the denial of a visa to Mr. Modi by the United States and the cancellation of his trip to the United Kingdom.

The meeting comes two days ahead of a scheduled meeting of Gujarat dissident leaders with the party president, L.K. Advani, where the one-point agenda is expected to be Mr. Modi's "autocratic style of functioning."

Though dissidents led by the former Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, are asking for nothing less than Mr. Modi's head, some senior party leaders here are saying that Mr. Modi may be asked to soften up the dissidence by offering sops such as filling the vacancies in the Gujarat Council of Ministers and chairmanships of various State Government bodies and agencies. But there are some senior party leaders who feel that Mr. Modi has become a major liability and a huge embarrassment and that the sooner he is asked to go the better for the party's image.