Bjp Bid To Stop Ripple Effect Of Gujarat Crisis

The party is as worried about the repercussions of the events in Gujarat on the coming elections in Uttar Pradesh as it is on the survival of the Mehta ministry.

Though only 13 MLAs, including eight former ministers, have broken rank and joined the Rashtriya Janata Party formed by rebel leader Sankarsinh Vaghela, this may just be the visible tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Observers feel that 40 more BJP MLAs who had either been handpicked by Vaghela during his long tenure as the party's Gujarat unit president or had migrated from other parties like the Janata Dal or Congress-I will join him sooner or later.

The BJP-RSS leadership is currently working at four strategic levels:

Confining the crisis within Gujarat,

Preparing the ground to explain away a possible downfall of the BJP government in Gandhinagar,

Sending out a clear message that indiscipline will not be tolerated, and

lStriving for the survival of the Mehta government.

The party's themes on Hindutva and a strong centre has been pushed aside by the debate on the so-called