Supporters of Narendra Modi’s bete noire Sanjay Joshi sidelined in Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR: The war is over and now it is time for distribution of the booties. Generals have been rewarded, soldiers patted. But even in these celebrations, the old chasm shows.

While positions, rewards are raining on the BJP workers, those who have been close to Sanjay Joshi are still left in the lurch.

While one of the former BJP Gujarat President Purushottam Rupala has been made the national vice president, the other, Rajendrasinh Rana has been ruthlessly pushed to the fringes of the state polity. While there have been not so pleasant under currents in Modi-Rupala equation, Rupala’s distance from Sanjay Joshi came to his rescue. On the other hand, Rana’s unapologetic proximity with Joshi stripped him of his Lok Sabha candidature from Bhavnagar, a constituency that he has been representing for last five terms consecutively.

As the luckier BJP workers get busy with their new political or administrative roles, nurturing their political ambitions, Rana is now returning to his project of hosting a website on the life and correspondences of his grandfather and eminent freedom fighter Sardarsinh Rana an associate of Shamji Krishnaverma and Madam Bhikhaji Cama keeping politics aside, at least for the time being.

Same has been the fate of Bhaskar Rao Damle, Pravin Maniar or Sunil Mehta, the RSS stallwarts of the state, who had stood by Joshi. Citing their seniority, the veterans have been side lined within the sangh.