BJP betters victory margin in Bharuch, Patel jubilant

But the Chief Minister has another, more personal, reason. Before the elections, Patel had been facing serious problems, within the party as well as outside. So much so that there was common talk that Patel’s days as CM were numbered. Names of his possible successors were being bandied about.

Emboldened by price rise, deteriorating law and order,and attacks on minorities, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Party of former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, which supported Janata Dal candidate Chhotubhai Vasava in the elections, were becoming increasingly aggressive. Having been worsted in Bharuch, they are now licking their wounds.

More damaging for the Chief Minister was the unhappiness within the BJP over his style of functioning. While Food and Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh dropped enough hints that Patel was hand-in-glove with the oil millers who had artificially jacked up prices, Industry Minister Suresh Mehta resigned after accusing Patel of doing nothing to arrest the killers of one his supporters.

The victory in Bharuch has changed all. Commented a Patel rival, “Bharuch has washed the Chief Minister’s sins. No one can now ask for his removal in near future.” Equally significant for Patel is the BJP defeat in Madhya Pradesh, where the party’s national general secretary Narendra Modi was the campaign manager.

Modi was regarded asthe “power behind the throne” when Patel first became Chief Minister in 1995. But, later, the two drifted apart. Given Modi’s clout at the national level, the Patel camp was always apprehensive about Modi’s intentions. With the MP debacle having dented Modi’s image, Patel can now relax.

In the opinion of Dinesh Shukla, a political analyst, the victory in Bharuch had given Patel “much-needed breathing space”. Patel had, so far, “shown little leadership qualities or administrative capabilities”, Shukla said, “This is an opportunity for him to make amends”.

How has the BJP won in spite of Patel’s alleged sins? The Chief Minister gave credit for the victory to his partymen who, he said, campaigned unitedly.