Click to play videoAhmedabad: It’s important to be Keshubhai Patel in Gujarat today. As the crucial Assembly elections draw closer, he is the one dissident leader who can turn the tables on BJP and the party will go the distance to ensure he remains within the fold.
Not only is Patel respected in Saurashtra and Delhi, he was the pivotal force behind the BJP success story in Gujarat after 1989.
The BJP has even tried to placate Keshubhai by offering the Visavadar assembly seat to his son Bharat Patel.
The party can also not overlook the fact that Patels are a major votebank in Gujarat, accounting for over 20 per cent of the state's population and nobody knows this better than Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
That’s perhaps why Modi has never spoken against Keshubhai. In fact, he tries to paint a picture that he is close to him.
An upbeat Congress would also love to have Keshubhai on its side. Insiders say the strategy will be to admit some rebels and give them seats and at the same time, set up triangular contests to defeat BJP canadidates.
But the Congress admits the final picture is still not clear.
"Some rebels are in the political process. They are meeting their leaders and some are meeting our leaders,” said GPCC President Bharatsinh Solanki.
The spotlight is now firmly on the angry old man of Gujarat politics. His move in the next few days may well decide which way the power equations swing in Gujarat.
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