Rebel all charged up

Chief Minister Narendra Modi had once famously said, 8220;Maut na saudagaro mate Gujarat ma jagiya nathi There8217;s no place for murderers in Gujarat8221;.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi had once famously said, 8220;Maut na saudagaro mate Gujarat ma jagiya nathi There8217;s no place for murderers in Gujarat8221;. But if Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Minister Purshottam Solanki8217;s crime record is anything to by, there seems to be place for everyone in the BJP.

Solanki, who is contesting for the third time on a BJP ticket from Ghogha constituency in Bhavnagar district, has eight criminal cases against him in Maharashtra. Once detained under TADA, Solanki faces charges of murder, attempt to murder, rioting. Solanki, who has also been accused of having links with the underworld, faces charges under the Arms Act.

But despite all these charges, Solanki, a Koli, knows the BJP can8217;t afford to drop him since Kolis make up about 30 per cent of the total voters in Gujarat. Ghogha constituency is one of the 58 seats in Saurashtra and the Kolis dominate nearly 10 seats. The BJP brought Solanki from Mumbai in 1998 to woo Koli voters.

Most of these cases were registered in Mumbai during the riots of 1993. He was recently acquitted in a murder case but while filing his nomination on Thursday, Solanki bragged, 8220;I have been acquitted in all the casesiquest; My community wants me to contest.8221;

Solanki was one of the first BJP leaders to openly blow the anti-Modi trumpet in Gujarat. Soon after a meeting of rebels two years back, he had gone on television and called Modi 8216;Hitler8217;. But it took him only a few hours to tender his apologies to the chief minister.

Recently, his resignation drama over the Chandni murder case brought him back in news. Chandni, a Koli teenage girl from Rajkot was killed in Junagadh. To protest the state government8217;s 8220;failure8221; in arresting Mohan Hamir, the main accused, Solanki submitted his resignation papers. But instead of submitting it to Speaker Mangu Patel, he addressed it to BJP state president Purshottam Rupala. His resignation was not accepted and he soon moved back to the official bungalow of the fisheries minister in Gandhinagar.