'Kissa kursi ka' at Gandhinagar

Though one was bemused by the power struggle that took place on Thursday at the  district panchayat campus at Gandhinagar, one could easily discern what  an in-party political revolt looked like.

The incident that took place was like a blast from the past -- when, led by Shankarsinh Vaghela, the BJP had revolted in the mid 90s.

The tension for the post of president of the Gandhinagar District Panchayat was palpable on Wednesday itself when, defying the Congress party's mandate to two elected members of the district panchayat, two other members of the Congress decided to contest the elections for the post of president and vice-president.

The Gandhinagar panchayat has 27 seats out of which 19 are with Congress and 8 with BJP. So, having a clear majority, the Congress party would be set to head the body.

The party had given the mandate to Mangiben Patel for president and Bhikhiben Thakor for the post of vice-president. But Usha Patel and Amit Chaudhary disagreed with the party's decision and decided to contest the election with the support of eight other Cong members.

It was crucial for Congress to maintain the political equation in the district panchayat, for, if the rebel group of 8 Congress members could get the support from BJP's 8 members, they could steal the majority and take command of the panchayat. On the other side, the strength of the Congress candidates with mandate from the party was 11. So they were equally worried about maintaining a clear majority.

However, political players from the Congress party were deployed at the campus and about 1000 supporters from both groups were on hand to watch the happenings from outside.

As soon as the elected Congress members of the rebel group reached the campus, the atmosphere got vitiated and when two women members stepped out of the car of Amit Chaudhary along with Usha Patel, the other faction started pulling their hands and pushing them inside the building, away from the meeting room. The struggle soon turned into a free-for-all between the rebels and the Congress members.

The shirts of Manubhai Patel, the husband of Usha Patel and the sarpanch of Sardhav village were torn and the latter was beaten by Congress members. Usha Patel was also pushed into the scuffle. However, Congress members succeeded in catching two women members from the rebel group and took them away from the panchayat building. Police then intervened to restore the law and order situation.

However, during the meeting, in the presence of the district collector and district development officer, Usha Patel continued to make a hue and cry about the incident. However, the rebel group had lost the support of their two members so they could not gain a majority or even the support of 8 BJP members, who restrained themselves from voting.

Finally Mangiben Patel and Bhikhiben Thakor were elected president and vice-president of the Gandhinagar district panchayat and the rebel group had to move out of the campus under police protection, fearing the other faction's supporters' wrath.