Gujarat Assembly Elections 2012: A history of dissidence and rebellion

Zeenews Bureau

Ahmedabad: Rebellion and dissidence is part and parcel of electoral politics and most political parties have to deal with it. According to a report in Times of India, the state of Gujarat too has seen its share of rebellion. A very recent example is the breakaway of Keshubhai Patel from Bhartiya Janata Party. He subsequently formed his own party, the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP). Keshubhai is a former chief minister of Gujarat. Incidentally, the present CM of state Narendra Modi came to power because Keshubhai had to step down after BJP suffered electoral defeat in 2001. Today Keshubhai is a bitter critic of Modi and has no left any chance to lash out at him. The Congress party has also seen its leaders rebel time and again. During the 1962 Assembly Elections in Gujarat, Swatantra Party-Gujarat (SP-G), headed by Bhailalbhai Patel collaborated with other parties to defeat the Congress. SP-G was a breakaway faction of leaders with rightist leanings from Congress and was founded by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. He was the last governor-general of India. SP-G head Bhailalbhai Patel propagated the concept of `Paksh` - `P` for Patidar and `ksh` for kshatriya. In tune with this he allied SP-G with Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha which was an organization of Rajputs and Kolis. However, the SP-G could only win 26 seats of the 154 in the 1962 polls. But in 1967 it managed to win 67 seats out of 168.