BKS divided on Saurashtra faction’s support to Kalsaria

The farmers’ rally led by Dr Kalsaria was held to raise the issues of salinity ingress and industrialisation in the coastal belt.

The BKS leaders from Saurashtra and Kutch have supported the farmers’ agitation led by Dr Kalsaria who has taken on the Narendra Modi government. Dressed in saffron clothes,Senjalia joined the rally which also included former state Finance Minister Sanat Mehta.

“This is for the first time the BKS and Kalsaria-led Gujarat Khedut Samaj have come together on the same platform. It is a beginning of a new trend,” said Senjalia,adding,“This is for the first time farmers and fishermen’s problems from coastal belt have been raised,that too without involving any politics.”

In Ahmedabad,however,BKS leaders did not agree with the stand taken by the party’s Saurashtra unit.

Jivan Patel,BKS(Gujarat) founder,said,“The BKS

is not with Dr Kalsaria. Some people might be

supporting him on a personal basis. These Gandhians and those with vested interests have now become a part of this.”

He added that agriculture and industry should go hand-in hand.

“overcoming our ideological differences,we have come together and we will shake up any government that is anti-farmer,” said Dhamelia.

New BKS president Mangal Patel was conspicuous by his absence at the event. “He has not come but we have got the permission from our national leaders,” said Jasani,who is BKS Bhavnagar president.

“The split is wide open between the party’s Saurashtra and North Gujarat units,” said a top BKS leader.

Earlier Dr Kalsaria’s Mahuva agitation against Nirma Cement plant had assumed proportions of a movement addressing farmers’ concerns at large. Now the coming together of two farmer groups was an indication that for the first time farmers are uniting as one group ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections.