Congress will decide on Vaghela's future on Saturday

The Congress will take a decision on withdrawing support to the Shankarsinh Vaghela government in Gujarat at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Saturday evening. The CWC is meeting for the first time after being elected on August 8 in Calcutta.

If the Congress withdraws support to Vaghela, the Gujarat government will fall. Vaghela has only 45 members in the 180-member Gujarat assembly. The Congress has 45 members while the BJP has 76 members in the House.

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president C D Patel told Rediff On The NeT in a telephone interview that "the Congress high command (read party president Sitaram Kesri) will decide on Vaghela’s fate." That decision will be discussed and then ratified at the CWC meeting

Gujarat Revenue Minister Atmaram Patel, the octogenarian rebel who is challenging Vaghela’s leadership of the Rashtriya Janata Party, met Kesri for an hour on Friday morning. Sources close to Atmaram Patel claim that Kesri has assured him of Congress support for his candidature for the chief minister’s post.

The RJP leadership served a show cause notice on Atmaram Patel on Friday evening, a precursor to a split in the party.

Kesri, the sources claim, does not want to withdraw support to Vaghela’s government without being certain of the consequences. He knows he will confront a renewed challenge in the Congress if the party fares badly in a mid-term election.

Besides Vaghela, Kesri is also gunning for Gujarat Governor Krishnapal Singh who is close to the chief minister. Kesri believes the governor may recommend a mid-term poll rather than give Atmaram Patel a chance to form the government.

The Congress president met President K R Narayanan on Tuesday and urged him to transfer the Gujarat governor. Kesri, this correspondent learns, has proposed the names of Rajasthan Governor Bali Ram Bhagat and Ranjani Ranjan Sahu, a former Congress MP from Bihar, as Krishnapal Singh's likely replacements.

After camping in Delhi for a couple of days and having met Kesri and Congress leaders Tariq Anwar, Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Madhavrao Scindia, Atmaram Patel left for Ahmedabad on Friday evening.

However, C D Patel does not fancy Atmaram Patel’s influence in the RJP. "Not a single RJP leader came to Delhi in his support," says the state Congress leader. "Though he claims he has the support of nearly 39 RJP MLAs, not a single MLA flew down from Gujarat to back his cause. He did not show us any paper signed by RJP MLAs in his support. He must come with a concrete proposal, only then can we think of supporting him."

C D Patel disclosed that he had submitted a report on the Gujarat situation to Mukherjee, adding in Congresspeak that the state party unit will abide by Kesri's decision.

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