Anti-Modi rebellion gets louder with newspaper ad

SLAMMING MODI: Keshubhai Patel has taken his proxy war against Modi one step further.

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Ahmedabad: The face of a half-page Gujarati newspaper advertisement asking people to vote against Chief Minister Narendra Modi is not UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi but senior BJP leader and former chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

“I have not given the ad. It was given by the Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti and they have quoted what I have said in the past. I have no objections to that,” said Patel.

It is a statement that takes his proxy war against Modi one step further, a war he fights through the Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti.

Since the BJP's poor performance in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls Patel's residence emerged as the Centre for the anti-Modi rebellion.

But now it is the Samiti that plays that role an umbrella organization for all anti-Modi rebels.

It's founders like Gordhan Xadaphia or former chief minister Suresh Mehta do not want to risk joining the Congress openly.

Their aim is to take control of a BJP without Modi. Every BJP rebel who can't find place in the Congress now joins the Samiti.

“The government today has been hoodwinking the people of the state. Not even 10 per cent of the supposed growth has happened,” says Arvind Patel from the Samiti.

The powerful Patel votebank is the Samiti's claim to strength and trying to woo the Patels away from the BJP is their big gamble, a reminder that it's not just Modi's future that's at stake in the coming elections.