At Wednesday's informal Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Narendra Modi took serious note of the decision by dissident MLAs to form zonal committees to gather support for their campaign against him.According to sources, Modi has directed his ministers to keep tabs on the movement and activities of rebel leaders in charge of the zonal panels. Cabinet spokesman I.K. Jadeja declined to comment on what was discussed at the meeting, but a senior minister close to Modi said, ‘‘He has asked guardian ministers in charge of each district to monitor the movement of dissidents in their area.’’He said Modi had also asked all ministers to establish rapport with MLAs and party workers and prevail upon them not to support the anti-Modi campaign. ‘‘In fact, most ministers have already started calling up MLAs on the phone to assess their mood and know what stand they are taking,’’ said the minister.On Tuesday, the anti-Modi camp had announced the formation of five groups headed by dissident MLAs to mobilise support for their campaign. Dhirubhai Gajera is to cover south Gujarat, Bechar Badhani and Siddharth Parmar will cover the Saurashtra-Kutch region, Gordhan Zadaphia will cover north Gujarat and Dilip Patel is to cover central Gujarat.Reacting to Wednesday’s developments, Gajera said, ‘‘It’s good the CM has at least taken note of our decision to form zonal groups. Our fight is just to provide dignity and self-respect to our party colleagues.’’ He said they had already briefed Keshubhai Patel, Kashiram Rana and Suresh Mehta, who are to present their case L.K. Advani in Delhi on Thursday.
