COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Thakre dismisses report as kite flying by media

Bharatiya Janata Party President Kushabhau Thakre today dismissed as "absolutely false" press reports that 60 party MLAs had sought the removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

"It is mere kite flying by the media," he told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram.

Asked if he had received any letter seeking the removal of Patel, Thakre said he had contacted his partymen in Gujarat this morning and found there was nothing of that sort.

Replying to a question, he said the crisis in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party had been "practically solved."

Meanwhile speaking in Ahmedabad, Gujarat unit president of the BJP Rajendrasinh Rana today described as "false and baseless" reports in a section of the press that 60 BJP MLAs had demanded the removal of Keshubhai Patel.

''The BJP government in the state led by Patel has done a commendable job, and such rumours are being spread in a bid to malign it,'' he said.

Thakre refused to comment on the crisis in the Congress in the wake of the opposition of three prominent leaders to Sonia Gandhi being in the race for prime ministership.

Thakre said his party had already made its stand clear on Sonia Gandhi's candidature for prime ministership. The BJP's stand has nothing to do with the developments in the Congress, he maintained.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report