Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi appears to be following former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh.
He is antagonising the BJP leaders and the Sangh Parivar to become a national leader (Prime Minister), viewed his political critics.
Mr Modi’s growing national ambition is creating more enemies for him within the party and the Sangh Parivar as well, they felt.
If he has marginalised powerful Patel leaders within the BJP and VHP leader Praveen Togadia in Gujarat and was said to be behind the campaign against party leader Sanjay Joshi, this time he is daring the Central leaders.
They said Mr Modi is no Atal Behari Vajpayee. He has no following or charisma outside Gujarat.
“Kalyan Singh was the hero of the Ayodhya movement but he became zero the moment he started thinking that he is above the party and played the caste card to get some political space in UP,” they said.
Now, Mr Modi is said to be sulking with Mr L.K. Advani, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and others but this would lead to his isolation, they predicted.
But the Congress is happy with these developments. According to AICC officials, the Gujarat media has started criticising him. The trend is significant. Nobody is believing that Gujarat prospered because of Mr Modi. “Gujarat was a prosperous state before Modi and will continue to prosper even after him for the simple reason that Gujaratis are entrepreneurs by birth,” they said.
According to them, Mr Modi will not get a free hand in the selection of BJP candidates if he tries to browbeat the BJP high command. Even if he succeeds in getting tickets to his loyalists, he may not succeed because of the infighting.
Meanwhile, the Congress condemned the raid by the Gujarat police on arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s house, alleging the BJP’s “naked dictatorship” is visible in the state. “Why is it that this officer is being targeted shortly after he blew the whistle about CM Narendra Modi and his government’s doings in Gujarat? The BJP’s naked dictatorship is visible in Gujarat,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.