Modi summons Anandiben after flop rally: BJP sources

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has summoned former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel to Delhi after a BJP rally in Surat ended in bedlam in the presence of party President Amit Shah, BJP sources said on Saturday.
Anandiben Patel, who quit as Chief Minister just over a month ago, has left in a private plane to Delhi, informed sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party told IANS.
Anandiben Patel was present on the dias on Thursday night when young Patidars disrupted the rally which was called to show that the BJP still enjoyed the support of the Patel community.
The disruption and violence forced Amit Shah, Chief Minister Vipay Rupani and Gujarat BJP President Jitu Vaghani to cut short their speeches. Such a display of protest is unusual for the BJP in Gujarat.
The ‘rajasva samaroh’ or royal felicitation of Patel legislators of the BJP was organised by real estate developers and diamond merchants of Surat to express the community’s confidence in the BJP government.
It was also meant to send out a message to the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), led by 23-year-old Hardik Patel, that the Patidars had returned to the BJP.
The show of strength, according to reliable sources, was the brainchild of Amit Shah, a strong backer of new Chief Minister Rupani.
The Gujarat government had pulled out all stops to make the function a success.
But it all came a cropper following the ruckus at the meeting with Shah, Rupani and union minister Parshottam Rupala cutting short their speeches and making a hurried exit. (IANS)