Jaspal Singh may never make it ministry

gandhinagar: it's ironical, the man who consistently attacked former chief minister keshubhai patel for non-performance and corruption leading to a decline in the party's popularity, may be denied a cabinet berth on grounds of indiscipline. even though what the former jails and rural housing minister jaspal singh has been saying all this while, finally dawned upon the bjp leadership as bitter truth, party sources said singh has been denied a ministerial berth not only in the first round of induction, but for good.jaspal singh has reportedly paid the price of frequently airing his grievances against the party leadership through the media, and through such acts, "bringing the bjp a bad name". the minister has been frequently shooting off letters to the national leadership demanding a change of guard in the state to revive the flagging fortunes of the party in gujarat. his latest letter, shot off to prime minister vajpayee immediately after the twin debacle in the by-elections to sabarmati and sabarkantha, not only called for a replacement of keshubhai patel, but also party president rajendrasinh rana and organisation secretary sanjay joshi. party sources said rana and joshi have not taken kindly to this and even though chief minister narendra modi would like to induct him in the next round, there is stiff opposition from this duo. sources also said there was a heated argument when joshi and rana, along with another general secretary gordhan zadaphia, summoned singh last week to the circuit house in gandhinagar and asked to explain charges on various counts of indiscipline. a huge file consisting of news clippings attributing comments made by singh which were critical of keshubhai and the party were also shown to him. singh reportedly asked the leaders that if he had indeed committed indiscipline, why was it that keshubhai patel had never dropped him from the cabinet. singh is reported to have maintained an aggressive posture throughout the questioning, and while denying most of these newspaper reports, told the party leaders that he was forced to air his views through the media on occasions because the party was just not listening to his grievances. besides, he said, as the recent change in leadership showed, the party had finally realised that what he was saying all this while was true. one of the three leaders who questioned singh said the former minister was on the offensive and blamed the organisation in equal measure for the party's poor performance in the elections. singh reportedly told them that despite being a four-time mla from sayajiganj in vadodara, he had never been invited for party meetings. neither was he consulted on who should be given tickets to contest the municipal elections last year. he maintained that the party organisation should also take the blame for the debacle and a revamp was necessary. singh, on being contacted about the episode, refused to comment on the issue and said it was "an internal party matter". he said he had welcomed the change in leadership and believed that things would henceforth look up for the bjp. on being asked whether he was unhappy that he was not made a minister, he said, "this is entirely the chief minister's prerogative. i wish him well even if he does not induct me."