GANDHINAGAR, DEC 3: The Congress high command has temporarily directed its Gujarat state leadership not to share power with the Parikh government for it may give the JD-G faction ground for dissent.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Dilip Parikh announced that the much delayed second phase of his ministry's expansion would be effected on Thursday. He told media persons that new ministers will be sworn in at Raj Bhavan at 10 am. He said that the decision regarding the number of probable members to be sworn in will be taken after the meeting of co-ordination committee of ruling Rashtriya Janata Party and the Congress.To a question, whether the Congress had agreed to participate in the Ministry, Parikh said that issue also will be discuss at the co-ordination committee meeting.As the chances of the Congress joining the Rashtriya janata Party Ministry in Gujarat appear dim, some JD-G faction members are even threatening that this might lead to a split. Though Congress leaders dismiss this as ``routine disgruntlement'' and expect to hammer out a compromise, the BJP has already intensified efforts to engineer a split in the RJP and the Congress.While Keshubhai Patel has already left for Delhi to discuss the state-level realignment of forces, Suresh Mehta is flying to Delhi on Wednesday. They feel that some RJP MLAs likely to be left out of the ministry, and some MLAs will support them. Central intelligence reports to the State Government also indicated that 13 to 15 MLAs of the JD-G group are vulnerable, and the BJP thinks they can be won over.However, JD(G) group MLA Virji Thumar claimed his faction had indeed favoured a RJP-Congress coalition, but now was against it. ``We have even decided to withdraw the Congress legislature Party (CLP) resolution which had requested the party high command to allow the party to share power with the RJP government. We have also conveyed our decision to the party leadership,'' he said. According to sources, state leaders are waiting for the final outcome in New Delhi before deciding on what to do here. Chaudhary seems to have plans of turning the tables and having a Congress government, with RJP and independents supporting it.The watch word is `wait'. AICC treasurer Ahmed Patel said the party should wait till things are clear at the centre. Confirming the high command's stand, Chaudhary told reporters on Tuesday that he and GPCC chief C D Patel met central leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel, and Meira Kumar but no decision was taken on support to the RJP Government.Chaudhary also made it clear that it was `advisable' that Parikh once again deferred his expansion plans at least for a week. Meanwhile, Government sources confirmed that Parikh had already chalked out a list of 37 ministers he wants to induct in his two-tier ministry.RJP sources claim that the undercurrent of dissidence within the RJP is likely to surface clearly after the expansion, as many former ministers and aspirants may be left out.Also Congress has made it clear that in case it decides to join the Government, Parikh will have to make changes to accommodate the Congress MLAs.
