Senior leader quits Cong.(I) in Gujarat

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, MAY 20. The Congress(I) high command's silent support to the economic reform policies of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre has its impact on the party in Gujarat.

After the former AICC(I) general secretary and former Chief Minister, Mr. Madhavsinh Solanki, reportedly expressing reservations about the party shunning its pro-poor image, the former Finance Minister and veteran party leader, Mr. Sanat Mehta, resigned from the primary membership of the party on the same issue.

Another former Chief Minister, Mr. Chhabildas Mehta, who on several occasions in the past had criticised the party president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, has again castigated the party leadership for ``failing'' to raise effectively the pro-poor issues both at the Centre and in the State.

Mr. Sanat Mehta, a former pradesh Congress(I) vice- president, who had earlier resigned from all positions at the organisational levels after he was denied the party ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Surendranagar last year, said the party's performance in the Lok Sabha was ``dismal'' having failed to raise relevant issues such as withdrawal of subsidies, exim policy and others that harmed the poor, to benefit a few rich people.

A former Socialist, the septuagenarian, Mr. Sanat Mehta, said he was breaking his three-decade-old association with the party with a heavy heart and was not looking forward to join any other party, but was quick to take note of the fact that even a section within the Sangh Parivar was sharing his views that liberalisation policy was unsuitable for a country such as India that housed nearly half of the world's poor population.

Commenting on Mr. Sanat Mehta's resignation, Mr. Chhabildas Mehta said it definitely showed that there was ``something wrong'' in the party.

He felt that the party should have opposed tooth and nail the subsidy withdrawal and other anti-poor issue as vehemently as it did on the question of RSS notification by the Gujarat Government in January.

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