Dilip Parikh Replaces Vaghela, Rjp Expected To Sail Through

Trust vote in Gujarat House today

State industry minister Dilip Parikh was yesterday elected leader of the Rashtriya Janata Partys legislature group. This was announced by Gujarat Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela here.

Vaghela, leader of the RJP legislature group, told reporters last evening that he would resign as Chief Minister paving the way for formation of a RJP government in the state under Parikh. The newly-elected RJP legislature party leader was scheduled to meet state Congress leaders last evening. Vaghela said 13 out of 15 independent MLAs had extended their support to Parikh. He said there were no problems for formation of a new RJP government in the state.

 

The RJP government is slated to prove its majority in the assembly today. However, the Congress has made it clear that its support to the RJP government would not be unconditional in future. With the RJP agreeing to the main Congress demand of replacing Shankarsinh Vaghela, winning the vote of confidence may not be a difficult job, party sources said.

The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief C D Patel told reporters Sunday night there is no question of extending anymore unconditional support. Some sort of mechanism like a coordination committee of RJP and Congress leaders will have to be set up.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons Sushma Swaraj and Yashwant Sinha yesterday issued conflicting statements on the partys course of action vis-a-vis Gujarat.

While Swaraj said the BJP was keeping its options open, Sinha stated at his regular briefing that the party would press for dissolution of the state assembly and holding of fresh elections.

Swaraj said in Gujarat the BJP would take steps to see that a RJP-Congress ministry was not formed in the wake of todays trust vote. She said BJP president L K Advani had discussed with state unit leaders measures to be taken by the party in the assembly. The state leaders were of the view that the BJP should stake its claim to form a government if the Vaghela ministry fell, she said.

The BJP leadership, however, felt the only way out of the prevailing crisis was to go in for a mid-term poll because of the unstable situation in the state, Swaraj said. The party had left the final decision to the state leaders, she added.

Sinha, however, stated that the partys stand in Gujarat was clear that it would not stake its claim to form a government in case the Vaghela ministry fell.

Asked about statements made by Gujarat leaders that the party could stake claim to form the government if some Rashtriya Janata Party members joined the BJP, he said, The BJP does not intend taking back those who break away from the RJP.

However, he said he was aware of the statements made by the Gujarat leaders but declined to comment on it.

The BJP leaders from Gujarat, including former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, had met Advani and informed him of the developments in the state. Though Advani was of the view that the party should go for dissolution of the assembly, he left the final decision to the state unit. However, Advani has told them that they should see to it that the RJP-Congress did not win todays vote of confidence.

BJP is the single largest party with 69 members in the 182-member state assembly. RJP has 46 members, while seven MLAs supporting RJP government were still technically with the BJP. The Congress has 44 MLAs while the independents number 15. One seat is vacant in the House.