Thakre keeping a close watch

Hours after he landed in Gandhinagar this morning, Thakre held a meeting with newly-appointed chairpersons and directors of the various government-owned boards and corporations.

In the evening, he addressed a meeting of the party MLAs and MPs, where he advised them to nurse their respective constituency and further boost the party8217;s image. None of the MLAs was reported to have expressed dissent at the hour-long meeting.

When contacted at the meeting venue, Thakre said his visit was 8220;routine8221; and that reporters should 8220;not read too much between the lines8221;. He said he was not averse to meeting legislators and workers individually.

Commenting on the political situation he said, 8220;All is well with the BJP and its government in Gujarat, and I am satisfied with the performance of Patel as the chief minister. I and Keshubhai have not yet met separately during the day.8221;

Water Supply Minister Narottam Patel and former minister Atmaram Parmar, owing allegiance to the Kashiram Rana faction in the party. were reported to have met Thakre separately earlier in the day. However, it was not known what had transpired at the meeting. Though a senior member of the party, Parmar has neither been inducted in the Keshubhai Patel ministry, nor has he been graced with the chairmanship of any key corporation.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh, the most vocal member in the ministry, had requested the state party leadership to arrange a separate meeting with Thakre. But, Singh was away in Saurashtra on Tuesday.

It may be mentioned here that Singh had locked horns with the chief minister recently on the issue of skyrocketing prices of edible oils, particularly that of groundnut oil, attributing the price rise to the faulty policy of the chief minister. In fact, as admitted by party spokesman Bharat Pandya on Tuesday, the edible oil price rise was one of the issues worrying the central leadership, which, too, 8220;has prompted Kushabhau to visit Gujarat8221;.

The party high command believes that the contentious issue of edible oil price hike has considerably brought down the popularity graph of the BJP Government in Gujarat, providing a much-needed stick to the opposition Congress and RJP to beat the government with.

Besides, the law and order situation especially arising out of the recent series of mob attacks on Muslims and Christians and their institutions seems to have caused a great deal of embarrassment.

Significantly, the prices of groundnut oil started falling down just a couple of days before Thakre8217;s visit to the state on Tuesday, following a belated decision by the chief minister to come down heavily on hoarders and blackmarketeers.

8220;The belated action appears to impress upon the BJP national president that the government is very much concerned about the price rise. The chief minister could have initiated such an action much before the prices of groundnut oil had started skyrcokecting,8221; a senior party MLA said. He said, 8220;There is no point in bolting the stable, when the horses have run away.8221;