She was escorted by five-odd police vehicles and dozens of cops and was whisked away from dharna venue.
Jagruti Pandya, wife of slain BJP leader Haren Pandya, decided not to go to the venue of chief minister Narendra Modi's fast apparently on the assurance of senior BJP leader LK Advani. Advani assured her over the phone that he would support her efforts to get justice for her late husband who was killed in 2003.
Advani's assurance came when Jagruti was going to the Modi's fast venue in her car accompanied by a police escort. At 12:30 pm, she announced from her car that she had called off her visit on Advani's assurance. Earlier, Jagruti was in a totally different mood when, at around 11:50 am, she reached Pandya's statue in Nehrunagar to seek his blessings before proceeding to give Modi a memorandum demanding that her husband's killers be nabbed. Her elder son was driving the car and Jagruti was seated on the front seat when she went to Pandya's statue.
At Nehrunagar, a large number of people claiming to be members of Bramh Samaj, had gathered for her visit to her husband's statue. They were shouting anti-Modi slogans and demanding justice for Pandya but Jagruti delayed her visit calling the group 'politically motivated'. BJP members present at the spot said the group comprised members of the Mahagujarat Janata Party.
"I want justice for my husband which is why I want to submit a memorandum to the chief minister to nab his killers," Jagruti said when she reached the spot and garlanded her late husband's statue. A few minutes later, at 12 noon, when she got into her car with her son to drive to the GU Convention Hall where Modi is fasting, JM Bharwad, PI of Satellite police station, was in the front seat while Jagruti sat in the back seat.
Her son drove the car as they travelled towards the chief minister's fast venue. Their car stopped near Jhansi ni Rani statue where BJP sports cell head, Janaksinh Parmar, joined Jagruti on the back seat. Escorted by 5 police jeeps and a BJP workers' car, Jagruti's car finally halted near Keshavbagh. Several rounds of conversation on cell phone followed and three letters were handed over to her discreetly. She was seen negotiating on the phone for more than 20 minutes.
At around 12:30 pm, Jagruti was still seated in the car when she announced that Advani had asked her to come and meet him in Delhi and that he had assured her that he would listen to her concerns. So she was cancelling her plan to submit a memorandum to Modi, she said.
"I spoke directly to LK Advani just now and he has told me that I can meet him in Delhi. He will listen to whatever my demands are. As he is a senior leader of the BJP, I have to respect him. So I have cancelled my plan to submit a memorandum to Modi," she said. Police officials then escorted her to her residence in Tapas Bungalow.
Jagruti chose not to go to the fast venue during the half-hour between Nehrunagar and the car's 25-minute stay at Keshavbagh. It is difficult to say whether the BJP was able to persuade Jagruti not to visit the venue or she changed her mind on her own after Advani's assurance, but she was successfully kept away from the GU Convention Hall.
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