Once upon a time, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, former Deputy Prime Minister lK Advani and former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel were considered as terrific troika of the saffron brigade. Each contributed immensely in the phoenix-like rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in early nineties, after it had come down to just two seats in the 1984 lok Sabha elections.
Though the trio is now not the part of the same team, they are supposed to share same platform during the last week of September in an important meeting of Somnath Temple Trust - the first time after Modi was anointed BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
Keshubhai, who resigned from BJP and formed his own political outfit Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), is chairman of the Trust. Apart from BJP patriarch Advani and the powerful Modi, other high profile trustees of Shree Somnath Trust are Harsh Neotia (Ambuja Cement), business magnate Rajen Kilachand, Professor JD Parmar, former MP hailing from Bhavangar, Prasannvadan Mehta and former Gujarat Chief Secretary Pravin K lehri. According to sources, Patel’s term as chairman has expired in March 2013. There are chances that the Trust may have new chairman from October this year. Sources also indicated that as Patel is not even primary member of the BJP, he would prefer to give up the post on his own rather than be removed by others.
Modi’s induction to the prestigious Trust board was backed by Advani and against the wish of Keshubhai in December 2009. Advani was appointed trustee in May 1999. It is also well-known fact that when Modi was assigned to take the charge as Gujarat Chief Minister in October 2001, Keshubhai opposed the BJP high command’s decision vehemently. History repeated itself in September 2013 and Modi became PM candidate against the wish of Advani. Now, it would be interesting to see that whether Advani and Keshubhai would form a team against Modi or they would keep aside their political differences in the interest of the Trust, which is administering one the most important religious places in the country.
Advani has been associated with Somnath Temple ever since he embarked upon his Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990. Meanwhile, lehri confirmed to The Pioneer that the meeting would be held at Gandhinagar and many important issues, including chairmanship, were expected to be discussed.