Former chief minister of Gujarat Keshubhai Patel, an octogenarian veteran politician, is the founder of Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) and is better known as bête noire of Narendra Modi.

Keshubhai Patel, 84, belongs to the Patel community deemed to be significant for playing an important role in Gujarat elections.

He served as Gujarat CM from March 1995 to October 1995 and from March 1998 to October 2001. Patel had been one of the prominent faces of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat until 2001, when his party was defeated in two key by-elections. This paved the way for unseating of Patel from Gujarat CM’s post and arrival of Narendra Modi as the new man at the helm of affairs in Gujarat.

Dejected after losing CM’s chair, Keshubhai Patel’s troubles mounted in the 2007 Gujarat Assembly Elections when Narendra Modi emerged victorious in Patel’s stronghold of Saurashtra. In spite of the fact that Patel had campaigned vigorously urging people to vote for a change, people had preferred the BJP and voted for Modi. Also, Patel had been served showcause notice by his own party for anti-party activities to which he hasn’t replied yet.

Keshubhai Patel left BJP on 4th August 2012 and floated his own outfit, named Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP). He has already announced the first list of 63 candidates for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly Elections 2012.

Hell-bent on defeating Modi in the upcoming Assembly Elections in December, Keshubhai has filed his nomination papers from Visavadar constituency in Rajkot district.

By Supriya Jha