New Delhi: In an indication of the growing
clout of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the BJP,
senior party leaders, including L K Advani and Arun Jaitley,
have decided to attend his three-day fast starting this
Saturday for peace, unity and harmony in the state.
Advani, who is MP from Gandhinagar, and Jaitley, Rajya
Sabha MP from the state, will leave for Ahmedabad on Saturday
morning to attend the fast to be undertaken by Modi.
Other Central leaders who will attend the fast are BJP
General Secretary and Chief Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad,
spokesperson and MP Shahnawaz Hussain and general secretary
Vijay Goel.
Modi is undertaking the fast days after the Supreme
Court verdict asking the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to
file a final report or a chargesheet to be heard in a lower
court in Gujarat in the Gulbarga Society riots case.
Central leaders Ananth Kumar and Balbir Punj (who is
in-charge of Gujarat) are also likely to attend Modi`s fast,
party sources said. They are away in Singapore to participate
in a seminar organised by Institute of South Asian Studies
(ISAS).
After the Supreme Court order, the buzz is that this
paves the way for Modi to play a larger role in the BJP at the
national level. This includes Modi becoming the next party
president or even be declared the next Prime Ministerial
candidate of the party.
Meanwhile, Gordhanbhai Zadaphia, former Minister of
State for Home in Modi`s cabinet who fell out with him, called
the three day fast a "political stunt".
"It is a political stunt and Congress leader
Shankarsingh Vaghela is doing another stunt. They are making a
mockery of a fast," he said.
Vaghela has announced that he will also go on a fast to
counter Modi`s fast.
PTI
