NEW DELHI, 19 May — If the talks in the bureaucratic circle in Gujarat are any indication, state Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to be shown the door soon, most possibly by the end of this month, unless the developments on the Kashmir borders sweep the Gujarat issue under the carpet
Even Modi himself is understood to have started giving indications to this effect to the officials close to him. Apparently, he has been told by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership that a decision had already been taken to remove him, but action would follow only after the alternatives were worked out.
The party high command, it is learned, is yet to decide on whether to impose president’s rule in the state, pending state assembly elections, or find a suitable replacement for Modi.
The question of dissolving the assembly has been ruled out till at least the presidential elections are over in July. Nor would the Election Commission agree on early polls to the assembly. Sources believe that sending the supercop, K.P.S. Gill, as the security adviser to Modi and the despatching of units of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to the riot-battered state were pointers of some harsh actions against Modi.
The BJP leadership wanted to wait till the Parliament session ended before taking any action against Modi so that it could deny the credit to the opposition, which has been clamoring for his removal. However, a final decision on Modi’s removal and the future shape of the state politics is likely to depend on Gill’s report.
