Ahmedabad: A committee of five ministers has been formed in Gujarat to quickly resolve issues that can trigger protests in the state ahead of assembly elections in December this year, a move that is being seen as an effort to block attempts by the opposition and rival groups to fuel protests to embarass the government, people familiar with the matter said.
The team includes Jitu Vaghani, Rishikesh Patel, Kanubhai Desai, Harsh Sanghvi, and Brijesh Merja.
Vaghani told reporters in Gandhinagar on Tuesday that health volunteers or Accredited Social Health Activists (Asha) workers protesting at the panchayat level have called off their strike after they were assured that their demands will be met. They will all resume their services immediately, he added.
Vaghani said the decision has been taken by the newly formed five-member committee that met the protesting workers at Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
In 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s tally of seats in the 182-member assembly dropped from 115 to 99 following an agitation for the quota in education and government jobs for Patels, who account for 14% of the state’s population. It was the BJP’s worst performance in the state, where it has been in power for nearly three decades, since 1998. Congress won 77 seats in 2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited his home state of Gujarat over the weekend, held a closed-door meeting with top BJP leaders as part of poll preparations.
{{/usCountry}}Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited his home state of Gujarat over the weekend, held a closed-door meeting with top BJP leaders as part of poll preparations.
{{/usCountry}}The meeting, which was unplanned and took many BJP leaders by surprise, was held against the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s aggressive attempts to make inroads into the state following its win in the Punjab assembly elections this year.
AAP has linked the Central Bureau of Investigation’s raids, including at Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s residence, to what it described as, its “growing popularity” and emergence as the potential alternative to the BJP in Gujarat.
A BJP leader said that AAP leaders including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have been making sweeping statements at Gujarat BJP leaders and that now senior national leaders of the party, including some based out of Delhi will now give a befitting reply to the AAP leaders.
He said the Gujarat chief minister and his cabinet have taken the reins of the government barely a year ago and hence leaders such as Assam CM Himanta Biswas and Delhi BJP’s Manoj Tiwari had stepped up efforts to counter AAP and expose their Delhi model, he added.
Recently, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswas took on Arvind Kejriwal over the scale of development claimed by AAP in the national capital. On Tuesday, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari hit out at AAP and alleged that ‘sharab’ (liquor policy) and ‘shiksha’ (education) “scams” had become the “twin towers of corruption” in the city.
Education minister Vaghani on Tuesday said that it was at the behest of the chief minister and Gujarat BJP chief that the Prime Minister attended a meeting of core committee members of Gujarat BJP to guide them.
“When elections are held on the basis of the state government’s performance, only development has been the agenda for BJP and its party workers who have put in a lot of hard work. All committee members presented their development-oriented views and this has only lifted the spirit and enthusiasm in the party,” he said.
Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel on August 22 announced an increase in compensation for the kin of soldiers from the state killed in the line of duty to ₹1 crore from ₹1 lakh following AAP-backed protests.
The Gujarat State Employees’ Coordination Committee has also started a Twitter campaign for the implementation of pay revision, end of the contract system, etc. Health workers in rural areas, too, have been demanding pay revisions.
Gujarat AAP chief Gopal Italia said the growing influence of AAP in the state was visible.
“Kejriwal’s frequent visits to the state where he raised people’s issues after holding discussions with them has put pressure on the BJP. When it took about 11 months for the government-appointed committee to submit a report about the pending demands of police officials, how will this new committee come up with solutions overnight? This is just eyewash and the government wants to evade issues raised by the people in the name of the committee,” he said.
The BJP government has also drawn flak over the death of at least 42 people in Botad and Ahmedabad districts after consuming hooch on July 24. Gujarat is a dry state, where prohibition was imposed seven decades back. The state government has been facing criticism over the seizure of large quantities of drugs as well.
“BJP has been in power for 25 years in Gujarat, they made similar committee in 2017, 2021 to resolve issues of government employees but they remain unsolved. Teachers, Talati officials, revenue department, panchayat level officials, mid-meal workers, teachers, they all have been protesting for many years now. There are 24,000 vacancies for teachers but what has the ruling BJP government done in all these years,” said Manish Doshi, a Gujarat Congress spokesperson.