Ahmedabad: Crying foul that the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has "surrendered" before the whims and fancies of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, veteran BJP leader Suresh Mehta on Saturday quit from the party.
Mehta, who formally resigned from the primary membership of the party today, sent his resignation to Gujarat BJP President Purshottam Rupala. While announcing his resignation, Mehta said that he had dedicated 50 years of his life to help build the party.
"I am quitting the house that I help build into a palace, because it is no more suited for my stay. When I saw that the entire party was surrendering before one person (Narendra Modi) then I thought it was best to quit," the former Gujarat Chief Minsiter remarked.
When asked what his next step would be, Mehta said, "I will continue to campaign in this elections to prevent Chief Minister Narendra Modi from returning back to power."Mehta also attacked Narendra Modi and BJP leader L K Advani for the destruction of democracy within the party.
Mehta also shared some of happenings of the year 2001, when the BJP had suddenly removed Keshubhai Patel as the Gujarat Chief Minister and appointed Modi in his place. "There were 117 BJP MLAs in the state legislature then," Mehta said. "None of these MLAs were consulted before (the then BJP president L K Advani) removed Keshubhai and appointed Modi in his place".
"This approach of the party had hurt us then. But we chose to remain quite in the larger interests of the party," Mehta said.
He also said that the decision to appoint Modi as the CM was imposed on them. "This decision (taken in 2001) has today become a liability for my party," he said. Mehta held Advani responsible for the current crisis in Gujarat BJP. He felt that it was Advani who blindly supported Modi without worrying for the party's principles.
"Advani held a tight leash over me when I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, but gave a free hand to Modi," he said while questioning the "double standards" adopted by Advani. Reading out parts of BJP's constitution, Mehta said "the party has strayed away from its objectives and principles". "One power-hungry individual has eaten up an entire institution," he said criticising Modi for destroying the democratic set-up within that party in Gujarat.
Mehta also gave various instances about how the Chief Minister Modi had unduly asserted his influence. According to Mehta, the Chief Minister had a hand in refusing ticket to late Haren Pandya (state home minister) for the 2002 assembly elections.
"The BJP party high-command never checked Modi who refused to hear the problems of his MLAs, insulted the constitutional bodies like the Election Commission (in 2002),the Prime Minister, Gujarat Governor, Supreme Court, NHRC and other such offices," he alleged.
"By surrendering itself to an autocratic individual (Modi), the party has committed suicide", Mehta remarked. Mehta also predicted that Congress will come to power in the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat. "Congress will win 111 seats", he said.
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